MT3:5 More Than Mini
by Elise Marie
Summary: Sam and Jack are moving in with each other to raise their daughter. Together they have to cope with family issues and work pressures whilst the universe continues around them. Episode based one-shots which slot inbetween More Than 3-5 starting in S6. WIP.
1. Moving In

**Title**: More Than Minis

**Category**: Sam and Jack romance/angst, Team/family angst

**Spoilers/Season:** Varies, starts in season 6 and in-between my More Than 3 and More Than 4.

**Rating**: PG13

**Content Warnings:** Maybe some mild peril, canon character death later.

**Summary:** Sam and Jack are moving in with each other to raise their daughter. Together they have to cope with family issues and work pressures whilst the universe continues around them.

**Disclaimer: Stargate and SG-1 are the property of Showtime, MGM, Double Secret and Gekko and they do not belong to the author. This piece of fan-fiction was created solely for entertainment purposes and no money was exchanged. No copyright infringement was intended and the original characters, situations and plots are property of the author. This piece of fan-fiction must not be archived without the author's consent.**

**Comments:** In the More Than universe which I first created years ago, I altered things by introducing a new extra member of SG-1 who worked alternately with Sam because Sam and Jack had a child together. This is a collection of chapters, each one based on an episode and is my imagining of how it would be different after Jack and Sam had a child and moved in together as parents in season 6. Each chapter will have specific spoilers for a particular episode and will fit in with the stories already posted. Some chapters will be Sam/Jack heavy, charting their relationship outside of the stories, and others will be team-fic or friendship. Chapter one is set after More Than Anyone (3), just before episode 6.04 Frozen.

**More Than Mini: Moving In**

Sam looked around the large open plan kitchen and felt quite uneasy. She had never really taken to moving very easily and she found it even more of an upheaval when she had a child under the age of one to move homes with too. Along one wall of the kitchen were all of the kitchen units, cooker, large fridge and freezer whilst in the centre of the room was a large family breakfast bar. The thought of breakfasts and dinners eaten at the breakfast bar scared her slightly and she was not too sure how to try and deal with it. Glancing up at a noise, Sam watched as Colonel O'Neill entered the room from the main hallway door. On the opposite side wall to that door was the door to the large back garden which had been one of the winning points of the house she now co-owned with her boss. It was still not sinking in with her that she now lived with her commanding officer. He smiled slightly as he saw her standing there and she attempted to return the gesture. Neither of their smiles reached their ears.

Four months ago, Sam had learnt that there had been a terrible mix up and the father of her child was in fact the man with whom she had shared a one night stand, her team leader – Jack O'Neill. He had been on a six month long mission to another planet and she had only been able to tell him when the mission deemed her to visit SG-1. Unfortunately, Sam had arrived on the planet during a Goa'uld attack in which Jack was seriously injured. During his recovery, he had declared that he was going to be a father to their daughter, Daniella, but there could never be any evolution of his relationship with Sam. Immediately accepting this, Sam had agreed that it was the best for their child. She knew that he was correct and that whatever she had felt for him needed to be ignored. He could not automatically forgive her for the confusion over their daughter and she agreed with him that Daniella came first. Before he had even been discharged from the infirmary ward, Jack had demanded that Sam start looking for properties and only a few weeks later they were now moving in together.

There were boxes surrounding them, boxes which contained their once separate lives, but thankfully not too many were in the kitchen. It was a four bedroom house and their boxes were being organised so that the three of them each had their own room. They intended on searching for a live in nanny to help with Daniella as there was no way that either of them were giving up working full time. Janet had kindly offered to look after Daniella for the day with her teenage daughter, Cassie, enabling Sam and Jack to move in and do most of the important unpacking without a screaming seven month old.

"Tell me the coffee maker's set up?"

Sam smiled more genuinely and nodded her head over towards where the machine was set up. She had no idea why she had placed such importance on making sure the coffee machine was able to use when she could not drink coffee. "Ready and raring to go."

"Thank goodness!" he declared as he made himself a cup of coffee. She noticed him wince slightly as he moved awkwardly.

"Still sore from the surgery?" She had been so incredibly worried for him after his injuries because she could not risk anything happening to him when he had been unable to meet Daniella as a daughter. He deserved the opportunity to be a father. The first time he had held her was the day after he had regained consciousness and Daniella had gurgled away and blew raspberries in his face, covering his face in spit. She was teething and seemed to dribble over everything, but there was an immediate difference in her reaction to Jack over other people.

"It's nothing." She eyed him with suspicion as he turned around and leant against the counter top, sipping his coffee. Anyone who knew Jack knew that he kept what he felt and thought hidden, that he would never reveal a weakness to even the closest team member. Sam doubted that it would be any different sharing a home and being a parent with him. They both stood there on opposite sides of the breakfast bar, looking around at their surroundings and trying to avoid the others' eyes. After the longest silence ever between them, Jack spoke again. "Weird, huh?"

"Yes, sir," she replied with a very slight laugh and a nod of her head. He visibly winced and she stiffened. "Sir?"

"We're living together, Carter, as parents."

She did not need reminding of their changing situation and her inability to deal with it. He had always been Colonel O'Neill to her, her commanding officer with regulations and rules to adhere to. There had been many occasions when the rules had been bent, not least the night on which their one night stand had occurred, but he had always remained her Colonel until earlier in the day when they had opened the door to their new home together. Despite the feelings which had grown within her for him, Sam had never envisioned this day. Regulations had always provided a safety screen between the two of them, keeping Sam's heart safe. Nothing had ever been stated concerning their formality with each other; it was for their own benefit as it created an audible barrier. Sam had to let that barrier fall now. "Right," she nodded, "Jack, then." The word felt wrong on her tongue.

He nodded slowly, sipping his coffee again. "Yeah, Sam." It sounded odd to hear her name in his voice. She was not sure if she could get used to it.

"Weird, huh?" she asked, mirroring his earlier question.

"Yeah." He nodded and she knew that no matter how odd it felt, the difference in names was needed to ensure the separation between work and home. It was only going to feel odder when Janet brought Daniella home and the three of them would need to develop a new daily routine and in this one she held slightly more power than him. The next few weeks were going to be interesting, Sam decided.

**Next Chapter - Episode 6.04 Frozen**


	2. 604 Frozen

**Category**: Sam and Jack romance/angst, Team/family angst

**Spoilers: **Set during and immediately after episode 6.04, straight after More Than Anyone.

**Content Warnings:** None.

**Summary:** Jack's been infected with the Ancient virus and he's dying. Not only does Sam have to deal with the very real prospect of becoming a single parent again, but she also has to decide whether or not to allow a Tok'ra to blend with Jack.

**Episode 6.04 – Frozen**

Releasing a long slow breath, Sam found herself sitting in the observation room again. Under normal circumstances, Sam had always despised sitting in the lonely, cold room, watching over a team mate and friend who was dying. This was the first time that Sam had watched the father of her child dying slowly in front of her with nothing she could do to prevent it. All that she could do was sit and stare down at him as a virus which had wiped out the Ancient race slowly killed him. A few days ago SG-1 had travelled to White Rock Research Station in Antarctica where Doctor Michaels and her team had uncovered a frozen body. Francine had informed Sam herself of their discovery, inviting her to inspect the discovery in person. Sam had refused due to Daniella's young age and the thought of being so cold. Instead, Jack, Daniel, Teal'c, Janet and Lieutenant Nicola Carpenter had travelled by C130 to the isolated base. She would have loved to have gone, having spent a lot of time communicating with Francine concerning her research. With the blessing of hindsight, Sam was very thankful that she had not joined SG-1 and come into contact with the Ancient virus.

Ayiana, the frozen Ancient, had the ability to heal others which was unlike anything Sam had seen before. Sadly, she had collapsed before being able to heal everyone completely. Of the three researchers stationed at White Rock and the five SGC visitors, Jack was the only one to not be healed and who was now dying. She was glad that everyone else was safe, but it troubled her immensely that there was nothing anyone could do for Jack except watch him die. Apparently Francine had fallen foul of the virus first and she had been quickly followed by Woods and Osbourne. A bad weather system had rolled in and no one from the base could leave until the weather cleared and the CDC could get to them. Communications had been out during this time, but as soon as they were functioning again, Daniel had called Sam and told her everything. At first, Sam had decided to stay away from the SGC in case something failed with regards to Jack's isolation. They were dealing with a virus which was over 800,000 years old so who knew how it would deal with hazmat suits. Janet had reassured Sam that the base and suits were safe and she had soon found herself sitting in the observation room, watching him fade away.

"In here, Thoran." Sam turned to the open doorway and saw General Hammond ushering in a member of the Tok'ra. They had been called earlier that day and the Tok'ra had sent someone almost immediately. Following Thoran was Janet, Daniel, Teal'c and lastly General Hammond. "Major Carter, this is Thoran. Thoran, Major Carter."

She stood and shook hands with the Tok'ra, forcing a smile at the man. "It is good to meet you, Major. Your father speaks a lot about you." Nodding, Sam was unsure how to reply. Thoran turned towards the others. "What can you tell me about the virus?"

"It's similar to something we have called meningitis," Janet explained. "It attacks the cerebrospinal fluid and despite the similarities, Ayiana's brain chemistry is significantly different to ours. There is nothing that we can do and our antibiotics have done nothing."

Thoran nodded in thought. "Sadly, I believe it to be beyond the capability of our hand device. There is another option." He allowed the option to sink into everyone without wording it.

Sam was the first one to understand. "Do you have a symbiote?"

"What?" Daniel interrupted. "Hang on a second, here." He turned to the Tok'ra face on. "You're talking about joining Jack with a Tok'ra."

"We believe that it will heal him."

"I do not believe that O'Neill would agree with such a course of action."

"He would rather choose death?" Thoran asked the Jaffa.

"We should give him the option," Daniel suggested and General Hammond nodded.

"Colonel O'Neill would not want to become blended with a Goa'uld. I know this to be a fact."

"We have a symbiote," Thoran explained, "whose host was mortally wounded on assignment. His name is Kanan and once Colonel O'Neill is healed, Kanan would leave him. A Tok'ra would sacrifice themself before remaining with an unwilling host."

"Doctor Fraiser, suit up and ask the colonel."

"Wait," Sam said and Janet paused. "I have power of attorney." They had organised it together a few days after moving in together for the benefit of Daniella. Sam had hoped to never need to use it. She turned to Thoran. "Arrange whatever you need to do. Colonel O'Neill will take the blending."

Nodding, the Tok'ra agreed. "We will need to take him to the Tok'ra base."

"SG-1 will accompany you with a medical team." Sam looked at the general, questioning his statement. "Not you, Major Carter," he clarified before dismissing them all. Sam remained in the observation room, watching as a medical team kitted out in hazmat suits entered the room and began prepping Jack for the move. She was unsure if she had made the correct decision; Teal'c was correct that Jack would never choose a blending over death. Sam, however, was not willing to allow him to die. He would just have to recover and hate her later. Time passed slower than normal as Sam watched and then followed the team take Jack to the Stargate. She opted to remain in the control room as Jack disappeared into the blue wormhole. Eventually, Sam dragged herself away from the windows which overlooked the Stargate room and made her way home.

With very little enthusiasm once home, Sam fed her daughter and put her to bed. Guilt niggled in her brain at how shut off from her own daughter she was, but it was all Sam could do to even make it through the motions. Daniella was grumpier than normal, but Sam had no idea if it was down to her teething pains, missing her father or having her mother acting oddly. Deep down, Sam knew that she had made the right decision. Despite Jack's dislike of the Tok'ra and their symbiotic nature, Sam knew that his priorities were different now that he had Daniella. A part of her was worried that she was wrong and that Jack would never forgive her. The three of them had been living in their new home for only a few weeks and although before that Sam had lived alone with Daniella, she now felt uncomfortable alone in their house. It was still early days and Sam was still working hard to bury and ignore her feelings for Jack, his peril was not making that any easier. She just needed him to get through this, she needed him to come home.

Moving her fork, Sam moved her dinner around her plate before realising that the meal had gone cold ages before. She dropped the fork, the sound of metal hitting china echoing in the open plan kitchen. Sam had liked the kitchen from the instant she had seen it. One wall was covered in cupboards and the cooker, opposite was a wall of windows which overlooked the large garden. The breakfast bar at which she was sitting was always bathed in light, either sun or moon, due to the windows and Sam sometimes preferred sitting on the kitchen stool than on the couch in the den. Tonight, the comfort of the moonlight was ineffective. She glanced at the bottle of beer sitting next to her plate. They did not keep alcohol in the house, but Sam had bought a four pack on her way home. After a few hours of them sitting in the fridge, Sam had reached for one and it now sat on a coaster next to her cold dinner. The difference in temperature between the cold beer and warmer room had caused condensation to form all around the bottle and it had now dripped down to leave a ring mark on the table. Just as Sam had not eaten a shred of food from her plate, she also had not taken even a taste of the drink. Sighing, Sam fought back a wave of tears that suddenly washed over her. She was so scared that Jack was going to die and leave her alone. SG-1 had always been close knit, it was part of what made them unique, but this time Sam felt worse.

There was a knock on the door and Sam jumped up off of the stool, walking quickly to the front door. Whoever was at the door knew that she had a young child because they had not used the doorbell, which meant that she knew them. It might be someone from the SGC with news of Jack. She quickly pulled open the door and saw Daniel standing there. "You're back. Is Jack…?"

Daniel shook his head and Sam nodded, fighting back her emotions. She stepped aside and he entered the house. She followed him into the den where he sat down on the couch. "He's still unconscious. Kanan hasn't been able to say anything either." She nodded glumly, perched on the arm of a chair. "He'll be okay though." Daniel did not seem too sure of his own statement. They both remained sitting there in an uncomfortable silence until Sam finally broke it.

"You want to know why I did it, don't you? You think Jack wouldn't have agreed to it, that he'd choose death over a Tok'ra?" She watched him nod, his eyes focused on the carpet left behind by the previous occupants. "Daniel, you've known him the longest and you probably think you know him the best, right?" She did not wait for him to answer. "You knew him during the first Abydos mission."

Daniel sniffed and for a moment Sam wondered if he were crying or at the very least fighting his emotions as much as she was. "Crazy, suicidal, death-wish Jack, yeah, I remember him."

"This isn't how either of us ever imagined having a child. Together or alone. But the fact is we do have a daughter. Jack needs to live for her." She still found it odd to refer to him by his name and often wondered if other people like Daniel thought it sounded weird. "I need him to live for her. You do understand, right?" Desperately, Sam needed his absolution. She could see his reluctance, but he did nod. After a very short silence, she forced a smile. "Fancy a beer? I've got some in the fridge." She had still not taken even a sip from the beer sitting on the breakfast bar and she had no intention of doing so. The only reason why she was going to give in to the temptation of the drink was to forget the horror to which she had condemned Jack. Those things would always be her decision now and Sam knew not only that they would happen again, but that she would make the same decision again.

"Thanks, but one beer and I really won't be fit to drive."

A genuine smile crossed her face at this and she laughed very slightly, standing up. "You can stay in the spare room." He looked at her, studying her face and nodded. Even though she knew that she was perfectly able to be alone with the responsibility of her daughter, Sam did not want to be alone.

"Sure."

"I'll get you that beer." Walking away from him, Sam headed to her discarded meal and tidied it up before tipping the open, flat beer down the sink. She just had to get through the next few days and then he would be home, alive and well until the next mission went awry.

**Next Chapter – Episode 6.05 Nightwalkers**


	3. 605 Nightwalkers

**Category**: Sam angst

**Spoilers: **6.05 Nightwalkers, 5.11 Desperate Measures and up to, and including, More Than Anyone.

**Content Warnings:** None.

**Summary:** Whilst Jack is still with the Tok'ra, Sam gets a mysterious midnight phone-call which dregs up memories from when she was kidnapped for Adrian Conrad. She and SG-1 go to investigate and stumble onto more than they bargained for.

**Episode 6.05 Nightwalkers**

A shrill ringing noise startled her and Sam rolled over and reached for the phone on her bed-side table. There was no phone where it should be. Instead Sam reached for the switch to the lamp as the ringing continued. She had to answer the phone before the noise woke up her daughter. Daniella was still not sleeping well because of the teething and absence of Jack; Sam really did not want to wake her. She could not find the light switch. As her brain started to wake up fully, Sam realised that she was in her new bedroom, in her new house and the bedside table with lamp and phone on was on the left hand side of the bed not the right hand side. She rolled across the bed and reached for the phone, seeing the clock for the first time. It was two o'clock in the morning and Sam was not sure if she was more confused by her location or who was ringing at this time in the morning.

Holding the phone to her ear, Sam sleepily whispered in the darkness, "Hello?" It dawned on her that it might be someone from the SGC calling regarding Colonel O'Neill. He had been with the Tok'ra for over a week. Last that the base had heard from the Tok'ra was that Jack was fully healed from the Ancient virus, but they were still searching for a suitable replacement host for Kanan. Sam was not sure that keeping Jack until a new host was found had been part of the agreement, but there was little they could do.

"Major Carter?" said the panicked voice on the phone.

"Yes, who is this?" Something told her that it was not an SGC related matter. She sat up straighter in the bed, reaching over and turning on the light.

"My name is Richard Fleming, Doctor Fleming. You don't know me, but I know about you and Adrian Conrad."

"How did you get this number?" Sam did not often think about her ordeal at the hands of Adrian Conrad and to be reminded of it at two am when she was alone in the house with a baby was not something that she wanted.

"I need your help. Major, the program was never shut down. It's completely out of hand. You need to protect me."

"What project?"

"They know-" The phone line went dead and Sam stared at the phone for a few moments before putting it down. The ordeal with Conrad had been ten months ago when she had been six months pregnant. It really was something that she tried to forget. The decision had been made during her pregnancy to not be an active member of SG-1, to avoid the dangers of travelling off-world, however, Sam had been kidnapped, sedated and almost killed in the name of research whilst on her own planet. It had been after an ante-natal gym session when Sam had been attacked in the parking lot. She had put up a slight fight with the masked men, but was limited due to her pregnancy bump. Despite the obviousness of her situation, the men had shown little regard and Sam had shouted out that she was pregnant. It had not stopped them bundling her into the van and sedating her until she awoke in Adrian's hospital.

A whimper from the baby monitor brought Sam back to the present and her bedroom rather than the sterile confines of her memory. Seeking reassurance, Sam quietly walked towards her daughter's bedroom with the cordless phone still in her hands and glanced in on her. Daniella was still sleeping and looked perfectly peaceful. Something was still troubling her and Sam found herself worried. Ever since she had discovered that she was pregnant, something had changed within her. She panicked very slightly more and had greater concerns over safety. Conrad's people had gotten to her once before and he was still out there somewhere, along with his companies. Just as she had tried to protect herself and unborn child during her captivity, Sam now felt the need to protect her daughter to a greater extent than she alone could.

Without a second thought, Sam picked up the phone again and dialled one of her speed-dial numbers. It was picked up after only one ring. "Major Carter?" Teal'c's voice greeted.

"Teal'c, sorry about the lateness in calling."

"It is of no concern, Major. Are you and Daniella in need?"

"I had an odd phone call. It's silly really."

"Do you require my company?"

She relaxed against the wall. "Yes, thank you, Teal'c."

XxXxXxX

_She is in the parking lot, heavy gym bag slung over a shoulder when she hears the tyres. She doesn't turn, believing it to be simply a car, another patron of the gym. Carefully, she places the bag on the backseat of her car and then places a hand on her bump. Her baby kicks her and she smiles, distracted from the world around her until there's a hand on her shoulder. She turns and sees four or five men dressed in black with ski masks on. She can't see them all. She doesn't have the time to see them all. Are there more? She punches out, catches one man on the jaw. Another is running at her and she raises her knee. She hears a grunt, but then an arm reaches around her waist. It drags her backwards and she knows she's nearing the van. She can't be put in that van. She needs to fight harder. She needs to try harder._

"_Please!" She hears her own screaming voice. "I'm pregnant!" Her voice is strained and unusual to her ears. She falls into the dark van filled with the black-clad men. She continues falling through the darkness, deeper and deeper until there is no light._

_And in an instant her world lights up. The bright white surrounds her, envelopes her and burns her all over. Her eyes sting with the pain that is emanating from every nerve of her being. The pain subsides and she can see a ceiling; square white tiles in rows. Her clothes are different, loose around her body and stomach. A numbness is creeping out of her body, but she can't feel her hands or legs. She can feel the skin over her stomach, knows the clothing is loose, but she can't feel anything inside. She recognises the suffocating feeling of sedation and she fears for her child._

_Trying to move a hand, she tries to touch her stomach, but something tightens around her wrist. She tries to sit up, her legs won't move but their numbness is fading. She panics. What have they done to her? What about her baby? Her baby isn't moving; it isn't kicking._

_The cold metal knife touches against her palm and she works at the restraints. A door opens and she covers the knife. She has to keep it hidden. She needs to keep it for later. She needs to get free. They approach her with syringes out, ready to pollute her system._

"_I'm pregnant!" Her voice is hoarse from screaming. They have to understand. Her system can handle it, but her baby is defenceless. "Please! Please don't give me that. Please!" She's never begged like this before, but she has no other course of action. She needs to remain alert and she must protect her child._

_She's running, her loose clothing flapping against her. Her baby kicks, alerting her to the oddness of bouncing. She can't stop. She can't make things better unless she gets out and her child should be glad to no longer be sedated. A noise causes her to pause and she ducks behind a wall. Footsteps approach her and she punches out. Warm blood flies outward from the blast, covering her hand. He recoils backwards and she snaps her elbow into his nose. She smells the blood and she fights the vomit rising up her oesophagus. He falls to the floor; the clatter of his gun echoes loudly. She grabs it up. It's heavy and cold, unusual in her hand. She looks at it curiously. It's alien to her._

_The need to run is overwhelming and she runs, ready to kill anyone who appears. She keeps running, down a corridor, around a corner. Corridor after corridor, corner after corner. It's a maze from which she can't escape. The man in the wheelchair stops her. He's wearing a mask. She fears him. He's going to be her destruction._

"_The damage is irreversible." Silence. Echoes of nothing. "I'm dying." The alien gun. Her sedated, body which is a stranger to her. "You're my only hope." Metallic… vomit… tight… loose… cold… alien… black… I'm dying… bright… blinding… Hope… Her._

"_No!" Everything is swirling in front of her and she puts a hand to the cold sterile wall. Her other hand reaches to her belly and it's flat. She looks down, nauseous, scared, confused. There's no pregnancy bump; her child is gone. She looks back up at the masked man in the wheelchair. He needs her, she sees it in his eyes. He's going to die without her. He's going to die with her. Everything's still spinning and he steps out of the wheelchair. He starts to remove the mask and his eyes glow. She's responsible. "Jack." He lifts his arm, points at her and then she sees the gun._

_Silence… kicking… hope… dying… dark… overwhelming… blinding… pain… cold… metal… guns… blood… alien… _Bang!

XxXxXx

"Major Carter?" Sam opened her eyes to see the shadowed face of Lieutenant Nicola Carpenter above her. Her chin length black-as-night hair was mussed and not for the first time in the week, Sam realised that she had been awoken suddenly in the middle of the night.

"Lieutenant?" she questioned, sitting up in the bed as Carpenter moved backwards.

"You were screaming." Out of the corner of her eye, Sam watched as Carpenter sat back on her own bed and she remembered. She had received a phone call in the middle of the night from a doctor in Steveston who was killed after asking for her help. The next morning, after expanding a link with Adrian Conrad and his companies, General Hammond had sent Sam, along with Daniel, Teal'c and Lieutenant Carpenter to investigate. It was the first proper mission that Sam had been sent on and she had tried to object. The general had pointed out that she had returned to work, with no off-world activity, and that she was needed to lead the team. It was the first time that she had spent the night away from her daughter and Sam did not like it. Especially with the fact that Jack was still with the Tok'ra although at least Janet had been available to take care of Daniella. They had been in Steveston for just one day and Sam was questioning the relevance of the mysterious death to the SGC and her in particular.

"Sorry," she apologised and the lieutenant smiled at her. Sam did not know Carpenter very well, but in the dim light of the motel room Sam felt the need to explain. "It was a nightmare."

Carpenter nodded somewhat hesitantly. "Because of Conrad?" Sam met her eyes and nodded almost imperceptibly. SG-1 had been the team to find her and rescue her from Conrad's doctors who had been on the verge of dissecting her brain. They had only paused when Sam had tried to appeal to their humanity, reminding them that she was pregnant and they were about to kill both her and her unborn child. Daniel and Carpenter had burst in right at that moment, preventing them from continuing in their plan. At the time, Daniel had told Sam they had linked her to the NID through Maybourne and an anonymous source. She later discovered that, in fact, Jack had returned from Edora but had not wanted Sam to know. It had been Jack who had located Maybourne, contacted Simmonds and come up with the location of the hospital.

"He's still out there and whilst nothing we learned today implicates him in Fleming's death, there's the possibility." She knew that was not the full reason behind her nightmares. Conrad turned into Jack during the terrors because of the parallels between them. Conrad had been desperate to find a way to live, to reverse the effects on his immune system and the captive Jaffa's Goa'uld was his only option. He had been naïve, believing that his people could find a way to remove the Goa'uld after he was healed. His motives had, in a sense, been pure and he had tried to keep his actions as innocent as possible. It had been his personal assistant who had ordered Sam's brain to be examined, not Conrad. Sam was finding it difficult to distinguish. She had made the decision for Jack to become a host, to use Kanan to heal him and then leave Jack whole again. Both then and now actions were only occurring because of humanity's desire to live and it had made Sam selfish.

The Tok'ra could not find a suitable replacement host for Kanan and until they could, Jack was to remain with them. Sam had not considered that and she knew that Jack would hate having Kanan in his head. The longer he remained with them, the more he would hate her and the more guilt weighed down on her.

"Try and go back to sleep, Major. I'll sit by the window and keep watch."

"What about you?" All of them required their sleep to function on this mission.

"I'll wake Teal'c up in a few hours and he can get the final shift." Sam nodded as Carpenter stood, turned off her bedside light and then turned on a smaller desk lamp next to the window. She watched for a few moments as Carpenter made herself comfortable and looked out of the window. Sam turned away and put her head down on the pillow. Closing her eyes, Sam hoped that sleep would come quickly without the nightmares. Tomorrow the four of them were planning on questioning other workers from Immunotech and she would need her wits about her.

**Next Chapter – 6.06 Abyss**

_This chapter was actually quite difficult to write and changed dramatically from what I originally envisioned. I realised that Desperate Measures would have been during Sam's pregnancy and I figured out that it still had to happen and that Jack was the key to rescuing Sam so had to still be involved. In More Than I Want To, Jack returned to Earth and did not see or tell Sam for a month which is when he discovered she was pregnant. Desperate Measures occurs during that month period. Then for Nightwalkers itself, I had planned on just three of them going and leaving Sam at home with Daniella. However, none of the other three could have decrypted the files that they found and I did not want to give that skill to Carpenter as she's not supposed to be a Carter-Replica. From what I read, USAF maternity leave is well under seven months so it is quite reasonable that Sam is back "at work" and that she is the only one qualified for this mission so has to go._

_Any thoughts?_


	4. 606 Abyss

**Category**: Sam and Jack romance/angst, Team/family angst

**Spoilers: **Based in/around episode 6.06 Abyss. Set after MT3: More Than Anyone.

**Content Warnings:** Angsty issues from both Jack and Sam regarding his blending with Kanan.

**Summary:** Kanan is dead, Jack has been tortured by Ba'al but has made it home. He's trying to deal with the after effects of the torture whilst Sam has to deal with the ramifications of her decision.

**Episode 6.06 Abyss**

It was the middle of the night when Sam blinked her eyes open and looked at the clock. It was still dark and she sat up quietly, trying to figure out what it was that had awoken her. There was no telephone ringing and she did not feel as if she had been having a nightmare. There was a gurgle from the baby monitor and Sam smiled at the cuteness of the noise, not even slightly annoyed at the fact that it must have been that which had awoken her. Lying back down, Sam closed her eyes when she heard another noise from the baby monitor. It sounded like someone moving around. Sitting back up, Sam swung her legs out of the bed and slipped her feet into her slippers. Very quietly, Sam walked out of her bedroom and along the corridor. She did not want to wake up Daniella and nor did she want to scare whomever it was in her daughter's bedroom. Sam tried to stop her brain from thinking the worst of every situation and despite her lack of sleep, she managed to keep her thoughts in check. There could not be anyone in her house and she had probably imagined the noises, she decided.

The door to Daniella's bedroom was open and she peered around the doorframe, still trying to make no noise. Sitting on a two-seater couch near to the crib was Jack. It had not even occurred to her that it could be Jack. Sam was used to living on her own and because Jack had either been on a mission or missing since they had moved in together, Sam was still used to being in her home alone. She watched him for a long moment. He was sitting slightly forward, his eyes staring at their sleeping daughter. It had only been a few days since Janet had cleared him to return home and he was on stand-down from SG-1 for the next few weeks to recuperate. They had not yet spoken about his time as host to Kanan or whether or not he hated Sam for it. Sam had not attempted to question him as she had been simply relieved that he had made it home. She had doubted Daniel's suggestion at sending Yu to attack Ba'al, worrying that Jack would be caught in the crossfire. If anyone was able to pull off the impossible, however, it was Colonel Jack O'Neill and pull it off he did. The SGC had continually tried to dial the planet of Ba'al's fortress with no success until a few days later when they managed to connect. A MALP had been sent through which showed that the immediate area had definitely been in a fire fight. It appeared that all Goa'uld and Jaffa had left and so SGs one, three and six had been sent through under the command of SG-3. A few hours later they had returned with an unconscious Jack. He had been hiding in some woods, waiting for both sides to retreat with the full awareness that he had no GDO so could not get home even if he could make it to the Stargate which was heavily guarded until the battle ceased. Never before in any of their team's captures had Sam been so glad when she first saw Jack in the infirmary.

Having no idea why Jack was up in the middle of the night, but not wanting to pry, Sam turned to leave.

"Sam?" Jack whispered when he noticed movement out of the corner of his eye. He turned and saw Sam turn back to face him. The room was dimly lit by the moon and he could see her smile hesitantly and take a step towards him. He thought he had been quiet enough to not wake her up. Ever since coming home from the infirmary, Jack had found it difficult to sleep. He figured that the only reason he had slept all night in the infirmary was due to the drugs. Sleep was the last thing in the world that he wanted to do.

"I didn't mean to intrude." She took a second step toward him so that he could hear her but hopefully not disturb Daniella.

He shook his head at her, his eyes still on her face. "Sorry that I woke you." He had tried to be quiet, but he should have known she would hear through the baby monitor. Her eyes flickered onto him and he diverted his toward Daniella. He had needed to see her; the baby that was a part of him. She had been the thing that kept him going through the torture. Sam had offered to bring Daniella to visit, but Jack had refused. He had not wanted to be seen by her innocent eyes until he felt a little more worthy. It still played heavy on his mind that he had given up information on the Tok'ra, their ally. It was that ally that had allowed him to get into his predicament, he thought bitterly. Part of him still wished that he had never allowed a _snake_ into his head.

"Are you… okay?" It was a lame question, Sam knew that before the words came out, but it was the only thing she could think of to say. There was a look on his face that Sam could not describe and it scared her slightly. She had not lived with him for very long, but that did not stop her from knowing him as well as she did. They had spent enough missions in close quarters to know what looks meant, what moods were and when they each needed help. He needed help and she could only imagine what he had been through. The blending to which she had agreed on his behalf, was supposed to heal him and save his life. Whilst it did achieve that goal, the blending with Kanan led directly to Ba'al's torture.

"Peachy," he whispered without a trace of emotion in his voice as he stared at Daniella. He had often questioned his worth as a human and as a good man. Every day he fought for his planet, for his people, on the side of good, but Jack still considered himself a broken man trying his hardest to make up for past sins. His greatest fear was that for all the trying he could do, it would all be in vain. Redemption was never going to be within his grasp. Anytime that he looked at his daughter, Jack felt a little closer to peace.

She looked at Daniella, trying to block out the pain emanating from him. "I'm sorry."

"What for?" he questioned immediately.

"It was me that made the decision. I knew how much you hate the idea of the Tok'ra, but I couldn't let you die." It had not been her intention to try and explain and she was unsure if it was to make his pain ease or her own.

"I can't say I was thrilled to wake him with a _snake_ in my head, but I understood." He looked across at her, but her eyes were fixed on their daughter. "A few years ago, I had nothing to live for, nothing to fight for. Now I have her." It was true that things had started to change in his life after the original mission to Abydos, but nothing in the past six years had changed him as much as his daughter had. Jack would admit it to no one else, but it would only have been stubbornness stopping him to agreeing to the blending. Sam would always have talked him around. His daughter was more important than sharing his being with something else. No one had expected the events which had then unfolded.

She turned and met his eyes, their faces close together in the darkness. "Is she what kept you strong when Ba'al…?" She could not finish the question; the word _torture_ was too harsh to be said in the nursery.

He nodded without taking his eyes from her. "I can't sleep," he whispered hoarsely. Every time that he closed his eyes all that Jack could see was Ba'al, his knives, his acid, his evil smile. Throughout his life, Jack had been through a lot, but nothing had stayed with him as much as the past few weeks. There was still little that he could remember concerning his blending with Kanan; Kanan had kept their memories as separate as possible. There were moments, flashes that he did not understand which had caused the problem with Ba'al's torture. All that he wanted was to close his eyes and not see the room spin, gravity change and the knives and acid come falling toward him.

She reached over and took his hand, feeling that it was colder than hers. It made her question how long he had been sitting here. His thumb moved and stroked her hand as if thanking her for the comforting gesture. Sam suddenly became aware of how she was dressed simply in a strappy top and pyjama bottoms. Under Jack's intense scrutiny, Sam felt too naked but the stroking of his thumb on her hand prevented her from moving anywhere. She wanted to make him forget the pain of the past few days, to lose the torture from his mind. Whilst his body had been fully healed by the sarcophagus, Jack's mind was far from healthy. She was not sure in the dim light, but she thought she could feel Jack's face slightly closer to hers.

"Sam," he breathed as he inched his face toward hers. Her name on his lips still felt odd, but he was getting used to it. Jack was not sure what exactly it was that he was doing, but that did not seem to stop him. Her breath was warm on his cheek and he knew that he was merely seconds away from touching her lips, from moving his hand from underneath hers and placing it on her cheek. A desire rose within him to join their lips, to seek solace in her mouth and use it to remove all trace of knives and acid. She could take everything away.

"Jack?" she replied in a whisper quieter than she knew was possible for her voice. She was not sure if there was a question there or if she were encouraging him. All that she could feel was a mixture of fear and lust. Fear of the unknown and of what could possibly happen if she allowed him to kiss her. At her core, Sam knew that she should not allow those possibilities, that it was wiser to stop him. Unfortunately, the lust growing within her was overtaking the fear and she found herself starting to move her free hand. Before she knew where she was repositioning it to, both of them turned toward Daniella as a slight cry came from the baby's mouth.

As the cry pierced the silently thick air, Jack snapped his hand away from Sam's and moved an inch away which was as far as possible on the small couch. He turned away from her and kept his eyes and thoughts on his daughter. No matter what comfort he sought, kissing Sam was not the way to seek it. "Sorry."

His voice was a mumble and Sam barely heard his apology. She understood his actions completely. They were both hurting emotionally from the past few weeks and any romantic or sexual actions tonight would be based purely on that pain. She knew that they could not go down that path. Their relationship was neither strong enough nor ready for those actions. Sam was well aware that it may never be. She was also fully aware that Jack needed help. She took his hand, stood up and easily pulled him to his feet. "Come on."

He followed her without question, trailing behind her with their hands held together. He wanted to question her, worried that she was still in a moment which he should not have started. Momentary panic flooded his body as he considered the ramifications if she were leading him to bed where he would have to reject her by spurning her advances. "Sam," he tried to stop her.

She stepped over the threshold to her bedroom as he said her name and turned back to him never releasing his hand. "You said you can't sleep. Get into bed." She knew what she was doing. He opened his mouth to object and Sam could not help the slight smile which crossed her face. "It's no different to sleeping bags next to each other on a mission. It might help you sleep."

Nodding, he relented, hopeful that he might sleep without the cursed dreams. He watched her pull back the covers on the untouched side of her bed and he dutifully climbed into the bed, pulling the covers back over himself. He was on his back, staring at the ceiling as he heard her get into her side of the bed. "Night."

"Goodnight," she replied, trying not to look over at him. She was eager to know when he fell asleep, to put her mind at ease that he had managed it and that she had done something right. It did not take long for her to hear his gentle snore and the regular rhythm of his deeper breathing. She was so used to hearing that whilst off-world when she was keeping watch that it soon lulled her into a sleep.

**Next Chapter – 6.07 Shadow Play.**

_Hope that you enjoyed this chapter, it's a heavy Sam/Jack one, but the next few won't be. There are still a lot of adaptions that they need to make in their life! If you've read the main _More Than_ stories and are questioning why this wasn't mentioned during the Zatarc testing, this almost-kiss occurred at home and not whilst at work._


	5. 607 Shadow Play

**Category**: Sam and Jack family angst

**Spoilers: **6.07 Shadow Play and 5.21 Meridian

**Content Warnings:** Minor character death referred to.

**Summary:** Sam and Jack have moved in with each other to raise their daughter. Together they have to cope with family issues and work pressures whilst the universe continues around them.

**Episode – 6.07 Shadow Play**

Entering the kitchen, Jack smiled a greeting at Sam who was sitting in front of Daniella's high chair, attempting to feed her. He was trying his hardest to keep up to date with all things related to his daughter, but sometimes he found it incredibly difficult. Things had changed a lot in the decade since Charlie had been born, although how babies had evolved and changed in that space of time, Jack was unaware. Back then, with Sara, it had been vastly different to now with Sam and Daniella. Work had been busy then, just as it was now, leaving Jack feeling like a part time father on both occasions. At least with Charlie and Sara, Jack had never felt like he needed to catch up with the first few missing months, but he had kept a lot of work-based secrets from his then wife. With Sam and Daniella, Jack did feel the need to try and catch up with the first missing months of his daughter's life, but at least there would be fewer lies. He knew that she was still so little and that being only eight months old meant that she would not be aware of his absence, but he was. He felt out of the loop and uncomfortable trying to explain that to Sam. Despite there being far fewer lies between himself and Sam than there had been with his wife and the close working friendship that he had with Sam, it still felt odd to him to question her. He had not attended any antenatal classes with her, nor had he been on any parenting classes with her and sometimes he watched Sam doing something and had no idea what she was doing or the reasons behind it. She probably thought that he was practiced due to his time living with Laira and Jack-Junior. Unfortunately, Laira had rarely allowed Jack anywhere near his son.

Pouring himself a cup of coffee, Jack then sat down opposite Sam. In one hand, she had a bowl with some orangey coloured mush in it and her other hand seemed to be hovering around near the edge of the highchair. He glanced at Daniella and saw that she had a plastic spoon gripped in her left hand and there was the same orangey mush all over her hand and the spoon.

"What time are you leaving for work?" Sam asked without taking her eyes from Daniella and the spoon which she kept wildly moving around.

Glancing at his watch, Jack calculated how much more time he could risk before he would be too late for his mission debriefing. "Got to leave in about an hour."

"Whoa! Reign in that excitement, please." Sam glanced over at him and she smiled. He rolled his eyes in response.

"Well, would you be excited about it?" He was really displeased with the upcoming mission, knowing that there were far more important missions to undertake.

"I will be there with you, remember?"

His brow furrowed in confusion. "Right. I forget these things." He was still trying to get used to her alternating with Carpenter and sometimes it took him a while to remember who was due on what mission. Even though he lived with her, it was not as if he and Sam partook in pillow talk at the end of each day.

"Gee, thanks." Daniella then dropped the spoon, but Sam moved quickly enough and got it before it could hit the floor. She passed it back to her daughter who grinned at both of them. "There you go." Wiping her hand to remove the mush, Sam said to Jack, "It is important, this mission."

"Really?" The sarcasm dripped from his voice as Sam used a clean spoon to try and feed Daniella a spoonful of orange mush. The first attempt missed the baby's mouth and Jack laughed. As a consequence, Daniella smiled giving Sam the opening to get the spoon into her mouth. "Team work." Promptly on cue, Daniella's tongue darted out of her mouth depositing all of the mush onto her chin. "Or not."

"It's just what she does. At least she gets it into her mouth. She needs to get familiar with the tastes and textures of food."

"Right." He nodded and then noticed Sam looking at him, her eyebrows raised sceptically. "What?"

"Nothing." Using the spoon, Sam scooped up the mush from Daniella's chin and tried to get it into her mouth again.

"How do you know how to do this?" he suddenly found himself blurting out.

She paused for a moment and then turned in her seat to face him. "I read it in all the baby-books. It's not all natural or anything and there's not many other people I know that have had children." It had never occurred to him that she felt as confused and out of the loop as he did. He could remember with Charlie, how Sara's parents had always been close by and whilst he knew that Sam had very good friends from work, not even Janet had ever had a baby to look after. Without a mother of her own around, Sam was quite alone in the parenting club, too. For the past few weeks, he had spent his time believing that she knew what she was doing when maybe she was not quite as intuitive as he had believed.

"Couples probably have it a hell of a lot easier, don't they?" He diverted his attention to his cup of coffee. It was not often that Jack willingly opened up, but he figured his daughter was important enough for him to change slightly especially as it was the thought of her that numbed his nightmares.

"What do you mean?" There was something that he could hear in her voice and he was not sure what it was: Possibly confusion or naivety.

Shrugging, he took a sip of his coffee. "With Charlie, I felt like I had no idea. Sara had her mom around and they knew how to deal with him. I was part of the process from day one and Sara would just tell me what to do because I spent so much time away. I was always playing catch up but she dealt with it how she had to deal with our marriage - telling me what to do."

"And because we're not... _together_, our communication is a bit different?"

He looked up at her and met her eyes. "What is that orange stuff?"

Sam laughed, causing Daniella to giggle and bang her spoon against the highchair tray. "It's pureed carrot."

"I see." Jack had no idea why the carrot had been pureed, where it had come from or why exactly carrot had been the chosen vegetable.

"I pureed different types of vegetables and fruits, froze them in ice cube trays and then I just have to melt a cube at a time." She turned her attention back to Daniella, who was still happily banging away. There was now a spray of carrot on the floor. "Daniella then likes to play with it herself and maybe eat a bit of it."

"Because she needs to explore and experiment." The spoon suddenly dropped to the floor and Sam smiled in exasperation as she bent down to pick it up. She placed it on the table and gave a clean spoon with some carrot on to Daniella. "And she likes to put things in her mouth." That much he definitely did know about his daughter because she chewed clothing, toys and his fingers. Daniella giggled at nothing in particular and swung the spoon, flicking the carrot up into the air where it promptly landed on top of her head. Jack laughed out loud, prematurely halting any tears Daniella may have had as she giggled with her father. "Definitely exploring."

"Fortunately," Sam said as she attempted to clear up some of the carrot, "it'll be up to Sasha to clean up the worst of all this." They still tended to travel to work separately, normally due to the fact that Sam would simply be working a normal seven hour day whereas Jack might be heading off to another planet. In their normal morning routine, Sasha would arrive home soon after spending the night at a friends', giving Sam half an hour to get ready and leave before Jack for work. "And then we can head off to help out Jonas."

"Don't mention him." Jack's voice was an annoyed growl which caused Daniella to turn to him in surprise. "Sorry," he apologised to both Sam and Daniella. He tried not to raise his voice at home, or get into too grumpy a mood.

"Jack, it isn't his fault." Sam attempted to get another spoonful of pureed carrot into Daniella's mouth, but as she did so Daniella blew a raspberry through her lips, spraying it all over Sam's hand.

"If SG-2 hadn't have been sent to Jonas' stupid damn-"

"Jack," Sam warned and he stopped himself. He was unsure whether it was purely that he was about to mention the words _planet_ and _aliens_ or because his tone had become angrier.

"If it weren't for Jonas and his _countrymen_ squabbling over nothing of importance then Ferretti would still be here."

"I know, Jack, but plenty of _countries_ still have infighting when there are more important things in the _world_. They have a resource that we need and it has absolutely no bearing on Jonas." She subtly used replacement words for _'planets'_ and _'galaxy'_. He knew that Kelowna had a source of Naquadria which appeared to be a lot more powerful than plain old simple Naquadah and that it had been Jonas who had stepped up and admitted the cover up, exonerating Ferretti, but that did not stop him disliking a planet who squabbled amongst themselves, building weapons intent on destroying up to a third of their planet's populace when there were Goa'uld out there and the Universe needed what they had. Subsequently it was Ferretti who had lost his life to save their selfishly indulgent planet.

"At least he never got brought into the equation for being your replacement." Jack knew that Jonas was far happier being Sam and Carpenter's laboratory assistant than he would be with SG-1 exploring the galaxy.

"Play nice."

"Let's just say that I'm glad you're coming on this mission. Not sure I could handle Carpenter and Quinn on this mission." He was starting to warm to Carpenter, but two scientists on a boring mission to a planet he already despised would have caused him to refuse. At least with Sam and Teal'c, Jack would be able to escape from the inane discussions between Daniel, Jonas and Carpenter. It was all that he could do to tune out Daniel and Carpenter on an average mission, but after meeting the three delegates from Kelowna, Jack thought even less of their planet.

Sam checked her watch and then looked up at Jack. "Would you mind trying to feed her a bit more so I can get ready for work? I have to leave in twenty minutes, but Sasha should be home soon."

"Sure." As she stood, he made his way around the breakfast bar and took the clean spoon from her. "Okay." He looked across at his food-covered daughter; she smiled at him. He gathered some pureed carrot onto the spoon and moved it towards her. She seemed to consider him in the way that only a Carter could before opening her mouth. She did not move a muscle as the spoon approached her mouth and the food got into her mouth. "Yes!" His yell of celebration caused both Daniella and Sam to smile and laugh at him, leading to Daniella's tongue emptying her mouth of the food mixture. Jack shook his head. "Nearly." He turned to Sam. "It's true, I don't necessarily know what I'm doing or why you're doing what you're doing and just because we aren't... _together_, doesn't mean we're two separate people in this family."

Nodding at him, Sam responded, "We're a team."

"Yeah, we just need to communicate. Teach me."

"Fine, but I won't tolerate your moods. I get enough of them from her."

"That's my girl," Jack said with pride as he tried another spoonful. "See you at work, Sam." He saw her nod out of the corner of his eye and smiled at the baby in front of him who's face and hands were covered in liquid food. It made her look adorable.

**Next Chapter – 6.08 The Other Guys.**

_Sorry about the delay in chapters. I found the motivation for this one to be severely lacking and I have no idea why because it did not take that long to write once I put my mind to it. I think it's because I wrote the other chapters after having watched the required episodes and I couldn't find the time to watch this one (or the others that arose from it). I wanted to show a glimpse at the first few weeks of them living together and that just because they make such a great team at work, a lot had happened and at home it doesn't always slip straight into place. Jack being a host to Kanan isn't really mentioned because of how Jack compartmentalises things and he _"got over it"_ and that Sam has come to terms with what she did. It may crop up again. I also wanted to explain what happened in _Meridian_ as I had already changed things to not have Daniel die/ascend. Needless to say, I have nothing against Ferretti - I simply needed to kill someone in Daniel's place. I also have nothing against Jonas, but I think Jack would have an element of hostility against him even without both being on SG-1. Maybe I'll address that later on... Next chapter won't be Sam/Jack focussed._


	6. 608 The Other Guys

**Category**: Sam and Jonas friendship.

**Spoilers:** 6.08 The Other Guys.

**Content Warnings:** None.

**Summary:** After a few blissful days working in the research lab, Sam is pained to have Doctor Jay Felger return from his heroic rescue of SG-1.

**Episode – 6.08 The Other Guys**

It was quiet in the lab shared by a group of the base's physicists and Sam was using that quiet to her advantage. She would normally use her own lab or the one shared with the rest of SG-1. Sometimes, however, her own lab was a tad too messy from one experiment when she wanted to simply do paperwork. SG-1 were recently back from their undercover mission with the Tok'ra and Sam could not concentrate on her own work when Colonel O'Neill was sitting there 'writing' his mission report. It usually involved him making lots of paper balls and then juggling or simply throwing them around. That was when he was not trying to start conversations with anyone nearby. Sam was very nicely settled in the physics lab as three of the physicists had been off-world testing ring devices for the past few days. The only person with whom she had needed to share the lab was Jonas Quinn and the only time he spoke was when he had questions concerning the research. Sam did not mind those questions because it showed his passion for the subject and for learning itself. She had little doubt that soon his knowledge would exceed that of the other physicists.

Sam was quite glad that Doctor Felger was still absent. Whenever he was around she always felt that he was staring at her and to say that it made her uncomfortable was an understatement. Doctors Coombs and Meyers were okay to work around, but they did get drawn into bickering with Felger quite often and Sam had enough of that with the colonel and Daniel. Meyers had been back from their research trip for two days and aside from his panicking that Felger and Coombs had walked right onto a Goa'uld ship alone, he had been relatively easy to work alongside of. Of course, then the news came that the undercover Tok'ra, Khonsu, had been killed by his first prime and Sam had become distracted from her work alongside Doctor Meyers. She had been aware of SG-1 being on standby for meeting with Khonsu and on her last mission with SG-1, she had secretly hoped that they did not get the call whilst she was with them. Since Daniella had been born, Sam had now undertaken some off world missions, including ones which lasted overnight, but they had all been semi-routine and never knowingly in the path of a Goa'uld. Her reaction to discovering that SG-1 had become prisoners of the Jaffa had struck her differently than it ever had done before. Her primary thought had been of Jack, not Colonel O'Neill or the others. It had been for the man with whom she shared a home and family. It had taken a few seconds before the military training deeply engrained within her kicked through that concern, quickly reminding her that SG-1 were still a force to be reckoned with and that if anyone could get out of their predicament it would be them. There was still an underlying fear that they would end up in the grasp of Anubis himself, but Sam had tried her hardest to ignore those thoughts.

It had been less than a day later that SG-1, along with Felger and Coombs, had returned safely to Earth. Sam had been in the control room and watched them all exit the wormhole. The colonel's eyes had met hers, telling her in their deep chocolate brown that he was fine. She had smiled, nodded and he had nodded ever so slightly in return. They both tried so hard to keep their work life and personal family separate but in instances like that, it was difficult to not give a slight indication. On the most part it worked without problem. At work, whether off-world, on base, in a briefing or attempting to work in their lab, they were 'Colonel' and 'Major'. He was most definitely the boss who listened to her and took her advice just as he always had. At home, they had developed a routine in the mornings and evenings, and their nanny, Sasha, had moved in a few weeks earlier. Ever since Jack had mentioned that they needed to communicate and work as a team more, ignoring the fact that they were not a traditional 'couple', they had been sharing the parenting. Sam had not thought far enough ahead to question whether Daniella would suffer at school, or be confused as to why her parents lived together but were in separate bedrooms. For the moment, it worked.

Sam had also not considered what would happen if Jack were to ever bring home a girlfriend. She had no idea if he even had a girlfriend, or whether he would ever tell her if he did. There was still a lot about him that she did not know and he still kept a large portion of his life a secret. On the night of his return from being held prisoner by Khonsu's Jaffa, he had stated that he was so glad to be home. They had been sitting on the couch together, Daniella sitting on her father's lap and Sam had responded by saying that she had only felt that glad to have him safe once before. Neither of them had mentioned Kanan and Ba'al, but they had known that it was to that which she was referring. Thankfully, there had been no sadistic torture inflicted upon him this time.

"So you got into their vents and that's how you travelled around the ship?" Sam glanced up as four individuals entered the room. It was Doctor Meyer who appeared to be questioning Felger.

"I told you it was of vital importance that I memorise those blueprints, didn't I?" Felger questioned the slightly shorter doctor. Sam took a moment to watch them along with Doctor Coombs and Jonas Quinn. Felger and Coombs had been at home ever since their return, but apparently they were now back at work. Felger had a look of pride upon his face and his chest was puffed up in an incredibly male bravado pose. "SG-1 would have been goners if it hadn't have been for me and my knowledge." Sam rolled her eyes at this. She, of course, had received the full story from Jack at home with certain words being changed so as to not give anything away to Sasha or Daniella. The last thing that Sam wanted was for her daughter to start school and tell all of the teachers about mommy and daddy's interplanetary escapades, or for her first word to be Goa'uld. Jack had admitted that after the plan went south, Felger and Coombs had each played a helpful part, but they had disobeyed orders. Sam knew the importance of following orders and it made Felger grate on her more than normal.

"It was I who accessed the control room and helped lead you all out to freedom, though," Coombs argued back and Sam did not even try and hide her grimace. This was going to end up in an argument worse than when they had started out discussing the merits of Captain Kirk and Han Solo. Although it had been a tamer one than a different disagreement which had concerned who was going to watch an experiment overnight. Felger had claimed to have a hot date whereas Coombs had declared that he would have to miss the newest episode of 'Enterprise' if he were forced to stay. Sam had snuck from the room before things had turned ugly and she foresaw having to escape from this discussion, too.

"But it was me who 'knew' where the control room was and got you there, wasn't it? And it was me who knew that something had gone wrong when those two Jaffa were killed!"

"Yes, it was your idea for us to dress in dead men's suits of armour." Coombs sounded displeased at having to don Jaffa dress.

"Did you two really pretend to be Jaffa?" Jonas asked and Sam could only hope that he did not become a member of the new Felger Fanclub. Jonas must surely be too sensible for that.

"We knew that it wouldn't be easy."

"Or pleasant," Coombs interrupted his partner in crime.

"But we managed it and then we rescued SG-1. I think Colonel O'Neill is rather impressed with our skills. Maybe he'll consider me as a replacement for Lieutenant Carpenter..." Felger seemed to drift off into a daydream which was often the expression on his face and Sam rolled her eyes again, accidentally making a slight disgruntled noise. She hoped that no one heard it and brought their attention to her. The only advantage of Felger living in his own little bravery world was that he seemed to have forgotten about his obvious crush on her.

"Major Carter," Sam looked at Coombs' smiling face and forced a matching greeting.

"Good morning," she said as all four men turned their eyes onto her, including Felger who seemed to have snapped out of his daydream and was approaching her.

"Would you like to grab some lunch, Major?" Jonas asked, darting in front of Felger and raising his eyebrows at Sam.

"That would be nice." She stood, locked her computer screen and left the lab with Jonas by her side without a glance back. Once they had rounded a corner, Sam let out a breath and said, "Thank you."

"For rescuing you from Jay?" Jonas questioned.

She nodded. "I'm just glad that i wasn't on that mission."

"Me too, but then that's because Colonel O'Neill would treat me the same as he does them." He gestured behind him to the three scientists.

Sam was well aware of what Colonel O'Neill thought of Jonas, having to not only hear Jack complain at home, but she had been a member of the delegation team to Kelowna just a few weeks earlier. "He doesn't understand people who are purely intellectual. With those doctors," Sam explained, "they can't follow military orders and that's why he can't tolerate them. It's more complicated with you."

"Because he blames me for my people's actions?"

Shaking her head, Sam answered, "It's true that Ferretti meant a lot to him. They'd known each other a long time, but he understands that you did the right thing in his name. I think he sees the advantage of you remaining here rather than return to Kelowna."

Jonas nodded, still staring down at the floor as they made their way through the corridors. "Maybe." She had never considered that he might get homesick and the only company he had was the physicists and archaeologists with whom he worked. He was the shared assistant of Sam and Carpenter and threw himself into both fields of work. Jonas had the eagerness and desire, along with the brain capacity to excel at everything he tried.

"I'm glad that you stayed."

"Thank you." They shared a smile as they entered the commissary and it was Jonas who spotted the menu first. "Look, they have blue jello."

**Next Chapter – 6.09 Allegiance**

_I have definite plans for _6.10 Cure_ and bringing Nicola Carpenter into it a bit more. I never intended to utilise every episode, but somehow that's how this seems to be progressing. I might even start doing multiple chapters for some of the episodes. I'll try and give advance notice if any chapter is not Sam/Jack centred for those that don't want to read them. The next one is not Sam/Jack centred, but it is in there!_


	7. 609 Allegiance

**Category**: Jack angst

**Spoilers:** Directly for 6.09 Allegiance

**Content Warnings:** None.

**Summary:** Jack thought that the Alpha site was busy enough with the Rebel Jaffa until the Tok'ra turn up. Not only does he have to contend with the hostilities between Jaffa and Tok'ra, but also a certain Tok'ra by the name of Jacob Carter.

**Episode – 6.09 Allegiance**

"Pearce, make sure the Stargate remains covered at all times."

"Yes, sir." Pearce nodded at Colonel O'Neill who in return gave only the slightest inclination of his head. O'Neill was not having the best of days, made worse by the fact that the day seemed to be incredibly long and whatever could go wrong was going wrong. It had started when the Tok'ra base had come under attack. One entire SG team had already lost their life along with a handful of Tok'ra as they all attempted to escape to the should-be-secret Alpha Site. Jacob Carter had apologised for bringing the Tok'ra there, but they had nowhere else they could turn after the brutal attack. What made the fact that he was now surrounded by Tok'ra far worse was the fact that a group of rebel Jaffa were already camped out on the Alpha Site. O'Neill had not been in the presence of the Goa'uld since his failed blending with Kanan and he was not sure how he fully felt about it. There had always been distrust between himself and the Tok'ra; Kanan had not improved the situation. Since the fight at the funeral, already existing tensions had increased exponentially between the two supposed allies and the Tau'ri were inevitably going to get caught in the middle. Thankfully, both Bra'tac and Jacob were sensible and had power within their respective groups. O'Neill knew that he could count upon both of them to help all three factions work together. Unfortunately, O'Neill was not as comfortable around Jacob as he normally would have been and it had little to do with Kanan. He wanted to discuss the tensions with Jacob, to possibly even get an insight into the Tok'ra and Kanan, but on the other hand, O'Neill did not want to risk the truth slipping out. Without Major Carter on this mission, O'Neill was unaware as to what information she had provided her father. All that he could assume was that since he had learnt the truth about being Daniella's father, Carter had not seen Jacob and therefore the retired general did not know. There was no way that O'Neill was going to let that piece of information come out right now.

Turning slightly, O'Neill posed a question to Daniel: "Do you think we're all gonna make it out of this?"

Daniel shrugged his shoulders slightly, glancing around at the mass of people. "With your brilliant diplomatic skills?" O'Neill narrowed his eyes at his team-mate. "They'll kill each other by morning or you'll kill them all soon after."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence." O'Neill knew that there was an element of truth in Daniel's words. He was neither the most diplomatic nor most patient man in the world. If anything, he would be described as the complete opposite of patient diplomat.

"It could be worse."

"How? How could this be worse?"

"Sam could be here." O'Neill shot another look at Daniel's smiling face.

"Colonel O'Neill, sir?"

He turned to Lieutenant Nicola Carpenter and said, "Go ahead."

"Sir, the Tok'ra are complaining about their temporary accommodation."

"What's wrong with it?"

"It's not up to suitable standards."

O'Neill studied the lieutenant, trying to figure out if she believed the Tok'ra statement to be valid or not. Even with their three month away mission, O'Neill had not worked with Carpenter for very long and he still did not fully have her understood. She had already tested herself in battle and he knew that, from a military position, his life could be safely put into her hands. He still did not know her very well. A lot of the time she was silent, only showing any real passion for anything when it involved something old and mysterious. He could not fault her professionalism and ability to do her job, but especially in their line of work a sense of humour was needed. O'Neill was sure that he had only ever heard Carpenter laugh when she was conversing with Daniel. "Have they never heard of temporary?"

"Sir?"

"Go tell them that if they're not happy with it, they can leave."

The look on her face turned to one of either curiosity or confusion and O'Neill rolled his eyes at her. Her mouth fell open as if she were about to say something, but O'Neill was saved from hearing her comment by Daniel. "He's kidding, Nic." She nodded, now definitely looking confused. "Come on, I'll come with you to try and calm them down." As Daniel walked past O'Neill he shot the colonel a warning look as if to say 'leave her alone'. O'Neill shrugged in reply. His patience was already hanging on by a tiny thread; he did not need Carpenter pulling on it.

"Oh, okay," Carpenter replied before turning to O'Neill. "Sir." O'Neill forced a fake smile onto his face as a reply that she was free to go and as Daniel and Carpenter turned their backs on him he heard her muttering: "Sometimes I just don't get him."

"That's okay," Daniel replied. "No one always does."

Despite standing alone, O'Neill rolled his eyes in annoyance before spotting a Jaffa and Tok'ra on the other side of the tents squaring up to each other. Aware that his duty was to head over, sort out their problem and nip things in the bud, O'Neill hesitated due to a lack of motivation. There was a part of him that would be happy to let the two allies fight each other over petty differences until there was no one left to cause him any problems. He forced his right foot to move, deciding to head towards them when Bra'tac came out of seemingly nowhere and seemed to placate the Jaffa almost instantly. It was becoming rapidly obvious that if nothing was done, somebody would soon die. The three leaders needed to work together and show their unity. That was the only way that the army of Jaffa, Tok'ra and Tau'ri would escape with all of their numbers intact. Bra'tac was still busy with the Tok'ra which left Jacob as O'Neill's first port of call with regards to their unity. O'Neill was going to have to go and speak with the Tok'ra he least wanted to be alone with.

A short distance away there was a group of Jaffa practicing and training, sitting and watching them was Jacob. O'Neill had not had to search for the general for long and made a beeline for him. Jacob was sitting, resting from his injury and taking in everything around him. As O'Neill approached him both men nodded a greeting and Jacob did not say anything as O'Neill sat down beside him. "What, uh, what happened back at the funeral?"

He felt the older man's eyes on him. "The Tok'ra and Jaffa have been far removed for centuries. You can't just make those kinds of people friends straight away."

"We're all on the same side."

"You have to bear in mind that until Teal'c, the Tok'ra were alone in the galaxy, forced to fight a war from the inside. We utilise subterfuge. We hide. We sneak. We're infiltrators and spies. Where's the honour in that? Teal'c's rebellion and the amount of Jaffa who are now rebelling, fight with honour. They do not hide. They do not sneak. We did what we had to do. Now, times are very different and to them we are not honourable."

"So why do the Tok'ra have such an issue with them? And don't try to deny it, Jacob. It's not a one-sided thing."

"True." Jacob seemed to consider his question for a long moment. "It's different for me. I'm different, obviously. Most hosts have come from worlds occupied by a Goa'uld and it is Jaffa who do their dirty work. It's these Jaffa who have enslaved some of the other Tok'ra hosts. I feel it slightly because Selmak brought it from previous hosts, but I also bring a complete lack of knowledge of them. Imagine a prisoner of war being released and becoming a diplomat who then works with, let's say, the United Nations soldiers - some of whom were ordered to interrogate that prisoner turned diplomat. The Jaffa were only doing what they were ordered. Until Teal'c, doubt from the Jaffa concerning their Gods was unheard of, but now they have to live and fight beside those who are hard to distinguish from their false Gods. Meanwhile, the Tok'ra have to fight aside their prior oppressors. No matter the truth of the matter, it can be hard to ignore the pain caused."

"So Selmak does have bias against the Jaffa?"

"Like most Tok'ra, yes. I'm one of very few hosts that have no bias."

"Glad you're here then."

"I feel it strongly sometimes, but then that's part of the blending. Selmak has less bias than he did because of my influence."

"Blending." O'Neill's voice was just a mumble as he stared intently at the almost choreographed Jaffa.

"What Kanan did to you was not a true blending." O'Neill turned his head to Jacob sharply, wondering how this conversation had got onto Kanan. He was relieved somewhat that Sam and Daniella had not been mentioned yet. "I am deeply sorry for what happened. Kanan broke our most highly treasured law and I regret not only what he did because of the pain it caused you, but also that if the two of you had been truly blended - even for a short period of time - you would understand our cause much greater."

"No offence, but I'm glad it wasn't successful." If Kanan had opened his thoughts to O'Neill, the torture would have wielded answers and Ba'al would have sought to kill O'Neill before a rescue mission could be launched.

"I'm sorry to hear that, Jack." There was a long pause where O'Neill considered leaving, but somehow felt more at peace than he had been since the Tok'ra had arrived. "How are Sam and Daniella?"

O'Neill met Jacob's eyes and quickly averted them when he saw love and pride beaming from them. It was probably how his own eyes looked when he thought of his daughter. It was highly unlikely that Carter had managed to tell her father the truth and O'Neill was not going to be the one who did. If Jacob already knew, O'Neill doubted that he would have failed to mention it. Staring down at his feet, he answered, "They're both fine. As far as I know. Carter works on base most of the time now so I don't see her that often." He caught himself before he fed into the lie that Daniel would be the best one to ask. Daniel was also likely to not realise and accidentally tell Carter Senior the truth about Carter Junior, her daughter and O'Neill.

"That must be odd." O'Neill looked at him curiously, noting that Jacob now seemed to be watching the fighters once more. "I mean, you were all so used to being a team. You did leave first though."

"Yeah."

"For an ex and your child."

"Yep." O'Neill had guessed that conversing with Jacob about Carter would be awkward, but it had not occurred to him that Jacob would bring up Laira and Jack Junior.

"But you came back."

"Just spit it out, Jacob."

"I don't know what happened with you and your ex, but I do know that Sam needs to focus on her daughter. She doesn't need your jealously affecting her career."

"Jealous? Excuse me?"

Their eyes met and Jacob's meant business. "I know that you've had feelings for each other, but she doesn't need a relationship or its drama coming from you. And just because your child isn't on Earth, doesn't mean you can take it out on her. Am I clear?"

O'Neill stood up, the calm he had found rapidly evaporating in the heat of anger. "Major Carter's child places no bearing on her ability to be a part of my team, trust me. I'd like to think I'm a bit more professional than to let my issues with my child affect my work." Jacob harrumphed at this, to which O'Neill shook his head in disbelief. "What, do you think I'm not good enough for your daughter?"

"Probably not, no. Especially when my grand-daughter's now involved. You're not the settling down kind and now that she has Daniella, I'd hate for you to get the idea that there's a family all-ready made for you because you'd leave after not too long. Whatever feelings you ever had for my daughter, forget them and leave her and Daniella alone. They can't replace the wife and child you lost, or the one not on Earth."

"Because I'm just a military man, right? Not a family man?" O'Neill could feel the anger bubbling within him at Jacob's attack on his character and part of him was ready to snap by yelling at him that he was in fact Daniella's father.

"For all that you say about orders and chains of command, Jack, you constantly lack respect for superior officers. You're sarcastic, bitter and so cynical that the only future ahead of you is one alone. You can't even hold your professionalism here, between the Tok'ra and Jaffa. How often has your mouth got you and SG-1 into trouble?"

The words hit O'Neill somewhere deep inside and there was a ring of truth in them. He had screwed up his first marriage, lost his first born and gone off the deep end. Suicidal tendencies and a crazy streak had set in then. Whilst the Stargate gave him something to now live for, there was still a crazy streak in him. He knew that the only people he refused to show respect to were those that did not deserve it just because of a title or rank, but he also knew that he was an expert at getting into and then out of trouble. There was no way that a relationship between himself and Carter would ever work, even without Jacob's words. His own choices regarding Carter and Laira had led to the simple fact that his son was somewhere out in the galaxy without him. Charlie's death had hurt him so deeply that the scars still openly wept and yet he was allowing Jack Junior to live on some random planet with no contact. He had been a despicable parent to Charlie and was being an awful parent to Jack Junior and yet he was trying to be a good parent to Daniella. It was not Jacob's responsibility to remind O'Neill of all this, so he turned to the general: "Bite me, Jacob."

"You're just proving me right."

O'Neill smiled slightly. "And why should I show you any respect? You're just a snake-head in disguise."

To this Jacob stood, mirroring O'Neill's angry stance. "You are one hell of a son of a bitch." O'Neill had nothing to say at this, although he had plenty of actions he desperately wanted to carry out. Carter would never forgive him for knocking her father out so O'Neill responded by nodding his head and turning to walk away.

As he started to walk away, O'Neill replied to Jacob's statement. "Probably." The sooner he could get home and away from the damn Tok'ra, the better.

**Next Chapter – 6.10 Cure**

_I had no idea what to do with this one, especially as there was no way that Sam could be on the mission. I used Jacob's presence to the advantage of Nicola though and showed her slightly. The conversation between Jacob and Jack then neatly leads into the plans I have for _6.10 Cure_! For anyone who questions it, Jacob is viewing Jack from the eyes of a parent who believes his daughter to be vulnerable due to Daniella. And I know that Sam was vital in the episode to spot that the Naquadah reactor was rigged for explosion, but let's assume another SG member did! Jacob knows enough about both Tok'ra and Tau'ri technologies to help with the generator and rig the electromagnetic pulse required later in the episode. The next chapter has some Sam/Jack in it._


	8. 610 Cure

**Category**: Sam and Jack romance/angst, Team/family angst

**Spoilers: **6.10 Cure

**Content Warnings:** None.

**Summary:** Jack has something he needs to do, leaving Sam to lead SG-1 on their diplomatic mission to Pangar.

**Episode – 6.10 Cure**

Jack kissed the cheek of his nine-month old daughter before tapping her gently on the nose with his left index finger. She giggled in response and it broke his heart as he was then forced to pass Daniella over to Sasha. Daniella appeared to be oblivious to his pain as Sasha jiggled her arm and moved a few steps away.

"Have a good weekend," Sasha smiled brightly at him and all Jack could manage was a weak nod of his head. "Come on then, girlie," she said to Daniella, "let's get you dressed for your fun day ahead!"

All he could do was watch sadly as his daughter was carried away. At the doorway to the living room, Sasha crossed paths with Sam who had just come downstairs. For a few moments Sam interacted with her daughter until she seemed to notice Jack and came further into the room. Reluctant to face up to the situation at hand, Jack slumped down onto the coach. Sam approached him, hovering at the end of the couch whilst watching him intently.

"All packed?" she asked and he gestured his head towards the small bag. She nodded in response. "When are you leaving?"

"In a minute, actually. My travel is booked for around lunchtime." There was something holding him back and making him wish that he could stay on his couch forever. He did not want to leave Daniella despite the fact that he often did when he was ordered to. The trip that he was about to make was not on an order, it had been his own decision; one which he was already regretting.

She nodded again, her head moving slowly as if she was unsure. "Bet you're excited." It seemed more of a statement than a question and there was something in her tone that Jack could not quite place. She perched on the lounge chair placed at a right angle to the couch and fixated her eyes somewhere past his own face.

"Jumping over the moon with joy."

She gave a genuine smile at his dry comment. "Why are you going?"

His eyes narrowed at her, initially with questioning what she had whispered and then suspicious of her question. Surely she understood his need to do what he had to do. Hope flickered through the nervous waves in his stomach every once in a while; hope that the weekend away would not be a disaster. The only thing that Jack wanted more than to stay at home was to have the weekend be a success. Nerves and fear always beat out the small glimmers of hope and deep down he knew that this weekend was going to be a disaster. He still had to try though. "What do you mean?"

"I just…" She appeared nervous. "I think that I deserve to know."

"Know what?" Jack felt like he already had enough to deal with today without having extra stress from Sam, but he did not want to leave with a disagreement hanging over their heads. That would be too similar to when he last left Earth for this reason.

She began uncomfortably ringing her hands together, attempting to rival Jack in the fidgeting stakes. "It's just that when you came back, you said that there was nothing there for you. I'm just curious now as to why you're going back." He furrowed his brow at her again, trying to decipher what her root problem was because so far it sounded ever so slightly like a partner might. As if sensing his concern, Sam continued, "It's just that I think it's only fair if there's anything else occurring because, well, I am the mother of your child. I need stability for my daughter, our daughter."

"Sam, I'm going back there because he's my son. Before I ever decided to try and make a go if it there with her, I told Laira that I would be a father to my son. It's been almost a year since I left and recently I've been thinking about him a lot more." This was partly due to being around Daniella all of the time and partly because of Jacob's words on the Alpha site a few weeks prior. "Trust me, I don't exactly want to go. I need to go."

She nodded, clearly thinking over what he had said. "Do you think she'll grant you access?"

Jack shrugged. "I have no idea. Probably not and she definitely won't make it easy if she does." He was well aware of all the extra complications, but it had never occurred to him that Sam would doubt his intentions. "I mean, even if it all goes swimmingly, it's not as if I can go visit every weekend. And he can't exactly come stay with me for the holidays." She seemed to flinch at something he said and if he had to he would hazard a guess that it was at the use of _me_. They had not really discussed his plans to visit his son, so he had not explained to her how he was not going to mention Sam or their child. Laira had made his life hell when he went to live with her and the Edorans so any information about Sam and Daniella would simply be further fuel for her fire. As the recipient of her wrath, Jack was not that stupid. This was not the time to get into semantics or risk saying anything that offended her. He needed to know that when he got back from his weekend of hell, Sam and Daniella would be happily waiting for him. "Is there any point in me trying? Maybe I should just forget all about my son."

"Don't say that, Jack." There was an anger in her voice which shocked him. "You need to try and see your son, to have a relationship with him. I'm not saying do anything that Laira asks and bow to her every request, but you have to try within reason. I'd like to think that if something awful did ever happen between us, you'd still fight your hardest for Daniella."

"I would."

"Well, then, it might be vastly more complicated with you, Laira and Jack-Junior, but you have to fight." There was a short pause. "I'm sorry about how it maybe seemed like I was attacking you or being jealous or something." It was not often that Sam had to fumble through a sentence and Jack smirked in slight amusement. "I haven't led an away mission for quite a while and this is going to be the first time that we're both off world separately. "

"It's just a diplomatic mission that you're going on. Far better that you're heading SG-1 over me to be fair. Especially considering my diplomacy with the Tok'ra and Jaffa."

"My father will forgive you for whatever you said."

"When you finally tell him the truth, maybe."

"I will." She did not seem positive about that statement and Jack could not blame her. He had no idea how she was ever going to tell Jacob that Jack was in fact the father of Daniella. Jacob had warned Jack away from his daughter and he was likely to hate the fact that they were now all related.

"You know that if things get out of hand on Pangar, you can contact me. If it really turns south, I'll be your back up." She nodded at him, hesitancy and reluctance still on her face. "And at any rate, I'll probably need rescuing."

"I hope you get to spend time with your son, Jack."

"Me too." All that was churning in his stomach was nerves and fear, the hope had disappeared.

**SG – SG – SG **

"Hey, Janet, here's the tritonin." As Sam entered Janet Fraiser's office, she held out the small vial of the drug that the Pangarans had given her. She still thought it highly odd that in return for the tritonin, the Pangarans had requested Stargate addresses to known Goa'uld occupied worlds. It was a huge decision that for a moment she had felt that it was above her. It was a world changing decision that Sam felt was not in her remit to make. She was neither a General nor a Colonel; she was not a leader or someone who could decide the fate for an entire planet. It had only been for a moment that she had doubted herself before she realised that she was a leader, leading SG-1 on this mission and that she had the training and experience to say 'yes' or 'no'. At the end of the day, the Pangarans were an incredibly resourceful and intelligent race so if she did not hand over the corrected co-ordinates, they would decipher the code to do it themselves. Tritonin was incredibly valuable and there was always a chance that she or the rest of SG-1 could convince the Pangarans to not head off to a Goa'uld controlled world.

Janet took the tritonin from Sam and studied it by eye as if able to unlock its secrets without technology. "So this is some wonder drug that keeps the Pangarans alive without disease?"

"Apparently so."

"Nice. We could make real use of that." Janet put the vial down and swivelled in her chair to face Sam better. Sam, herself, moved over and sat down on a second chair, sighing as she did so. "Long day?"

"In exchange for that," she nodded her head at the vial, "the Pangarans wanted some Stargate addresses."

"You were authorised to do that."

"They wanted worlds _they_ had uncovered, Goa'uld occupied worlds."

"Did you give it to them?"

Sam nodded as Janet looked shocked. "It's not all that bad. Daniel's going to talk to them, try and talk them out of it whilst Carpenter continues helping their archaeologist. If anyone can dissuade them from making the biggest mistake of their lives, it's Daniel." There was a long pause. "It was more the fact that it was _my_ decision."

"You've lead missions before, Sam. I know you've had a long time of not going off-world, but you can't honestly be doubting yourself. I know you."

Sighing again, Sam picked up a pen from the table next to her and began spinning it in between her thumb and index finger. "It isn't just that." It was a reluctant admittance and vast understatement. It was not as simple as leading a mission because even though it had been many months, she had done it before. It was not even just the fact that she was away from her daughter because, again, she had done that more and more over the past few months. It was never for more than a couple of nights that Daniella was left at home with Sasha and neither parent, so that was not what was making Sam feel out of sorts. She did not want to admit it to herself, let alone to Janet, but she knew that it would be better for operational safety if she were to unburden her mind to her friend.

"Spit it out," Janet ordered in the only way a best friend, who also happened to be a parent, doctor and member of the military, could.

"Jack's gone to visit Laira and I guess I have reservations."

"He left her to come home, remember? And, anyway, you two are just friends, aren't you?"

"Yes! Yes, of course we are. Last time he went to her it was for months. He abandoned me and I'm scared that he'll abandon Daniella and me."

"He would never abandon Daniella."

"He left his son." Sam despised the bitterness in her own voice. Nothing was ever that simple. "What if he falls in love with his son and can't bear to leave him?"

"Colonel O'Neill barely knows his son, he wouldn't pick anyone over his daughter. Heaven help any future girlfriend he has." Janet smiled as if she had just made a funny joke. Sam found nothing funny about the scenario of Jack getting serious with another woman. What if he met someone and fell in love with them, wanted to marry them? Would she and Daniella have to move out? Would he want her to move out and leave Daniella behind? She had been living so much day to day that it had never occurred to her that there was a future ahead of both of them. Noticing the silence, Janet said, "Not that it's all that likely."

"What?"

"Nothing. All I meant was that Colonel O'Neill will be home in a few days and you'll realise that you're worrying over nothing." Sam nodded silently as images of Jack bringing women home to meet Daniella flashed through her head. "I haven't seen you in a few weeks. How have things been?"

Janet and Cassandra had been on a holiday to spend quality time with each other so because of their working hours, Sam had seen neither Janet nor Cassandra for close on a month. "Good. Jack and I had a talk the other week concerning working together and talking with each other." It had been awkward at first as Sam had been used to being a single parent and then suddenly there was someone else living with her. She had naively assumed that Jack was involved as he wanted to be. Sam understood that it had taken a lot for him to admit his shortcomings and she was willing to incorporate him fully in their family. The only downside was that it brought them closer and closer as a family and the thin line which kept them romantically separate was thinning.

"As long as you keep work and family separate. You can't ever merge them. Or anything else." Janet knew Sam far too well. "It'll be the end for both of you," she added as a warning.

An element of her wanted to admit to her own growing concern that the line would one day vanish, but Janet was not just her best friend, she would also always be a military officer. "My only concern is Daniella and family life being perfect. I've never crossed the line before and I never will." Janet raised an eyebrow in scepticism at her and Sam stood up slightly sharply. "I better get back to Pangara. Hopefully Carpenter has kept Daniel and Teal'c out of trouble."

"And I'll get to work on discovering the secrets of tritonin." There was a short pause before Janet stopped Sam as she said, "Sam, we'll have to get together soon. Have a girlie afternoon maybe?"

"Yeah, I'd like that."

**SG – SG – SG **

He stomped down the stairs, momentarily forgetting how old they were and that they could be fragile, before entering the underground tomb. Teal'c and Zenna, the Pangaran Archaeologist both turned to Daniel as he sighed and tried to calm himself. Teal'c's eyebrow arched strongly, questioning Daniel's bad mood. Daniel shook his head, eliciting a curious look from Zenna and he noticed that Nicola was still working hard on the wall inscriptions.

"Is everything all right, DanielJackson?"

"The Pangarans won't listen to me," Daniel explained. "I've managed to convince them to hold off on attempting some daring mission to obtain a new Goa'uld Queen, but that's it so far. These damn people are going to get themselves all killed." He allowed his anger to vent for a few moments before he noticed Zenna standing there, simply looking at him. Realising that he was talking about her people, Daniel apologised: "I'm sorry, Zenna, I know they're people you know and care about."

"Do not apologise, Doctor Jackson, I have known for years that the Queen we have and the tritonin we developed was killing us. We are now dependent on the drug which is rapidly depleting." She shook her head in shame and sorrow. "One way or another, we are a doomed people."

"No!" Daniel shook his head. "Our doctors will work on it and the Tok'ra are already here. We'll find some sort of solution." It was a promise that he was not sure he could keep, but he wanted so much to keep. "Sam's with them, working on the problem now. They won't stop until they find something."

"Indeed," Teal'c agreed. "The Tau'ri and Tok'ra will endeavour to find a solution."

"Umm, hey, I might have found something." All three of them turned towards Nicola who was still staring hard at the wall.

"Noticed I'd come back then?"

"No one could miss you rushing down the stairs, Daniel. This is an archaeological dig, you know? I mean, older than old, fragile."

"Yeah, yeah, spit it out, Carpenter, what have you found?" He allowed a smirk to cross his face as he took a few steps towards Nicola. She turned around to face him and the others, a concerned look on her face. Daniel knew Nicola well enough after months of working together to decipher her moods from the look on her face. There was normally an immense excitement on her face around an ancient find like this one, mostly excited because sometimes she would be frustrated at her failing to finish or being blocked by an obstacle. The look on her face seemed more like that which she had when a military operation was going south.

"It's about the Goa'uld they've been using."

"What of the Queen?" Teal'c enquired. "Which Goa'uld have they been using?"

"It names the Goa'uld as an enemy of Ra." Nicola paused and it made Daniel's worry increase exponentially. They shared the trait of being too excitable to contain information for very long, but she was stumbling over her revelation. "Does the name Egeria mean anything to either of you?"

Daniel knew immediately who Egeria was and the look on Nicola's face said that she did recognise Egeria's name. It was Teal'c who found his voice first: "The Founder of the Tok'ra."

"Oh, my God." Daniel's mind instantly went into overdrive as he tried to think of what they should do next. The Tok'ra deserved to know, but it could destroy everything between the Tau'ri and Pangarans. "We have to tell Sam."

"What a great first mission for her to be leading?" Nicola said rhetorically as all four of them made their way to the stairs, heading for the surface in search of Sam.

**SG – SG – SG**

Part of her was so very glad that it was late at night when she arrived home because it meant that Daniella was already asleep. She hated herself for feeling like that because as a mother she should always want to see her daughter, especially after a few days apart. During her brief return to deliver the tritonin to Janet, Sam had not had the time to visit Daniella, but given the events which occurred after then, Sam wanted to simply lie on her couch in quiet. She remained lying, sprawled on the couch, as she heard a noise at the front door and instantly placed it as a key in the lock. A few moments later, Sam heard heavy, but silent footsteps and the sound of a duffel bag dropping to the floor. The lights above her then flickered and she squeezed her eyes shut to avoid the brightness.

"Oh, sorry," Jack mumbled as he switched the lights back off. "Didn't see you there." She heard him move further into the room and he soon turned on a smaller lamp in the corner of the room. Sam looked over towards him and saw him sitting on the armchair, his face hidden by shadows.

"That's okay. I didn't think you were coming home tonight."

"How did the mission go?" he asked, clearly avoiding her question.

She chose to ignore his dodging and answered him instead, "We found the mother of all Tok'ra."

He nodded in the shadow. "Bet the Tok'ra are happy."

"Not too much – she died soon after."

"Ah, well our friendship can't get any worse with them. Maybe I am glad I wasn't there."

Squinting over at him, Sam considered the man with whom she shared her life. "Dad wasn't there."

"He's not the only one who hates me."

"How was your trip?" She sat up and tried to see his face better, but the lamp behind him was still keeping his face darkened.

"I'm off to bed. See you in the morning." Before Sam could say anything to try and stop him, Jack was already out of the door and up the stairs. She knew that it would not have done any good. No matter how long they lived together and how well they knew each other, Jack would always remain stubborn. There was no point in trying to push him or force him to speak. He would either get over it, tell her in his own time or bottle it until he exploded. She had not yet had to deal with him exploding in a home situation and she was not looking forward to the day that it did. Unfortunately, trying to involve Laira and their son into his life was going to lead to nothing but trouble for Jack and, by association, Sam and Daniella.

**Next Chapter – 6.11 Prometheus**

_Ooh, Jack's a bit moody. Or is he just tired from his trip? How evil is that Laira woman? Hehe. Next chapter answers some of that and has a nice dosage of Sam/Jack-ness._


	9. 611 Prometheus

**Category**: Sam and Jack romance/angst, Team/family angst

**Spoilers: **Set in episode 6.11 Prometheus.

**Content Warnings:** Mild peril!

**Summary:** Jack's been quiet ever since his off-world visit to his son and Sam's worried. She has to put aside family issues when a journalist uncovers the Prometheus project.

**Episode – 6.11 Prometheus**

As she opened the front door to her house, Sam was still visibly troubled by the journalist who had cornered her at her car. She put her purse on the small table next to the coat rack and quickly moved into the lounge where she put Daniella into the play-cot. Daniella giggled and gurgled, chattering to herself as Sam went back to the front entrance to take off her shoes. She paused in slight consideration before locking the front door to ensure that only those with a key could gain entrance. Usually she would trust the neighbourhood to an extent and, after all, Jack always left the doors unlocked. It was what he was used to. Having had a journalist track her down to the mini-mart caused Sam to question if the journalist would then turn up at her abode. She had ensured that she was not followed and she wanted to believe in the human decency of people, but that had not stopped the journalist from questioning her as she had put Daniella into her car seat.

Removing her shoes, Sam knew that she had to inform General Hammond as soon as possible, but it was Sasha's day off so she would unfortunately have to wait until Jack showed himself. It was often such a hassle to try and get to the base with Daniella in tow and Sam was not willing to risk evasive driving with Daniella in the passenger seat. Her only solution was, therefore, to find Jack and that was not necessarily as easy as it should be. To a certain extent, their lives were intertwined, but he was still his own person and she was not always aware of his location. Ever since he had returned from his visit with his son, Jack had been quiet with her; much quieter than normal. He was still pleasant and polite, spending time with her and Daniella when it was required, but he had not spoken to her about his trip. If anything, Sam had noticed him spending more time with Daniella. She had not fed her daughter breakfast once since Jack's return. It was not that she was complaining, because Sam loved seeing the smiles on both Jack and Daniella's faces from spending time together. What did bother Sam was that every so often, she saw a sadness on Jack's face when he had to leave Daniella to go shopping or when it was time for her nap. She desperately wanted to question him on his sadness, but she knew Jack too well to push him. He would tell her if he needed to.

"Jack?" she called near the bottom of the stairs. If he were upstairs, he should hear her call and he definitely should if he were anywhere downstairs. As she waited for a possible reply, Sam removed her jacket and hung it near the front door. Within a few seconds, Jack appeared out of the downstairs study, opposite the lounge doorway.

"You called?" he replied and immediately moved past her. She wanted to hear his usual playful tone, but his voice was always flat now unless it was directed at Daniella. Following him a few steps into the lounge, Sam watched as Jack went straight over to Daniella and lifted her out of the play-cot. He held her up at his side, using his index finger to alternate between squidging her nose and tickling her tummy. Her giggle was an absolute joy to listen to.

Unable to take her attention from the lovely scene before her, Sam had to smile as she began to explain to Jack. "As I was leaving the mini-mart, a reporter introduced herself to me."

"Reporter?" he asked, turning around to glance at her before returning his attention to Daniella.

"Said her name was Julia Donovan. She claims to have information about a top secret military program. She knew my name and, obviously, where I shop."

He paused in his efforts to tickle Daniella and met Sam's eyes. "Are you and Daniella okay?"

Sam nodded, a part of her annoyed that his first question was concerning his family. It was evidently clear that they were both okay so he did not need to be worried, his worry should be aimed at how much had been leaked. A few weeks ago, Jack's response would have been from a military standpoint, including checking on his family. "We're fine," she finally answered. "But this Donovan lady knows too much."

He was still looking at Sam as he nodded back at her, seemingly wearing his protective father and Air Force Colonel hats. "You need to tell General Hammond." Before she could explain that she was planning to, but needed Jack to look after Daniella, he continued, "I'll look after the girly." He turned his attention back to Daniella and lifted her high up into the air above his head. "Time for Daniella-Daddy play-time. Yeah!"

Watching them, Sam felt as if she no longer existed in the room. She was pleased that their relationship was developing and that a strong bond was forming between father and daughter, but it worried her that Jack was not acting his normal self. Something had happened with his son which was causing him to now dote more on Daniella and to bother even less with other people. Daniel and Teal'c had been around for dinner the night before and Jack could barely manage a sentence in their conversation. Her only issues with his change in personality were what the actual cause of it was and was there some way that it could wear off. Before his trip, Sam had worried that he would not return. It was a fear borne out of the fact that the last time he had gone to see Laira and Jack-Junior, he had not returned to her until almost nine months later. The worst thing in the world that she could imagine happening a few weeks earlier was to become a single parent again. Now, it was that Jack's emotional detachment from everyone but Daniella would blow up and destroy everything. "I'll, uh, I'll head to the base then. I shouldn't be long."

"Okay," he replied but she knew he was not listening.

**SG – SG – SG**

The journey would only take him a few minutes, he knew this, but it did not stop Jack's wafer thin patience from wearing thinner. The day was going from bad to worse and he was pretty sure that it could not actually get any worse. It had all seemed so simple the day before, send Sam and Daniel to the Prometheus with journalist, Julia Donovan, and her film crew to get an exclusive. He had been against the principle of the idea from the word go; it was never a good idea to let civilians in on secrets which held the highest National Security levels. Never had it occurred to him that a simple, civilian based task would end up with him and Teal'c in Apophis' Death Glider on their way to the now stolen Prometheus. To cap off the brilliant day, as far as he was aware, Sam was dead. Only a few hours earlier, Jack had received the phone call saying that the film crew had taken Sam, Daniel and other Air Force guards hostage. He had not waited for the rest of the phone call and after slamming down the receiver, Jack had not waited for orders or permission before setting off for Nevada. It had been a while since he had yelled at anyone the way in which he had yelled at Major Davis, but even now, and with hindsight, Jack did not care. Only he was aware that part of his anger was at the fact that Sam was aboard and that part of his anger was directed at himself.

It had been three weeks since Jack had returned from a visit to Laira and Jack-Junior and it was possibly one of the greatest mistakes of his life. She had barely even let him set eyes on his son to the extent that he was not sure of how the toddler had his hair cut now. It pained him to know that there was a child out there that he would probably never be allowed to know. Laira's first initial question had been a spiteful one: _How is Major Carter?_ She had known all along that he did not love her and she had used it against him for the six months he had attempted to live with her and be a father to his son. However, she could only assume that he had returned to Earth to be with Sam. In truth, he had returned to tell Sam the true extent of his feelings, but things had not been that simple. All that his silence had said to Laira was that he was not happily in love with Sam. That had been all the ammunition she had needed to aggravate him and wind him up. There had been plenty of opportunities to tell her about his daughter, to rub it in her face, but she would use that as the ultimate reason to cut him from his son's life.

After two days, Jack had finally returned home with an agreement to see Jack-Junior on a semi-regular basis and a strong desire to simply hold his daughter and Sam. Returning to the woman who had played a pivotal part in his decisions over the past few years had stirred up a lot in his mind and heart. Along with a renewed love for his daughter, Jack also had the strong urge to hold Sam and never let her go. She was the polar opposite of Laira and he had missed both females he lived with. Things were no simpler than the last time he had returned to Earth. Instead he had thrown all of his affections onto his daughter in an attempt to mask whatever emotions had been stirred up with regards to Sam.

Now, she was probably dead.

_Deck Seven isn't pressurized. The airlock in that section is still under construction. By the time they reach orbit, she'll be dead._ Major Davis' words kept echoing through his mind. He was not simply angry at those who had allowed this mission to go ahead, but also with himself for lying about Sam to Laira and then trying to shut everyone out. He never assumed that it would be simple to live with Sam purely as friends, parents and team-mates, but he had also not foreseen lying about her, hiding things from her and having her die, leaving him a single parent. Right now, all that he could think was that she was dead and that it was too late. His friend, team-mate and daughter's mother had either suffocated or been sucked out into space and he had spent the last few weeks practically ignoring her. He could not remember the last time he had made her smile by saying something.

_By the time they reach orbit, she'll be dead._

Every time the words echoed in his mind, another voice told him that there was still hope and that there was every possibility that Sam had made it out of the storage room and off of deck seven. Allowing his pessimistic side to shine through, Jack ignored those thoughts as he instead remained angry and bitter as the Death Glider slid carefully into the Prometheus' hangar deck.

"Colonel O'Neill, we are aboard."

"Thank goodness for radar," he quipped as both men were aware that the radar system was not yet fully operational. "Let's head out. Bridge?"

"Indeed." Slowly and with their senses on full alert, Jack and Teal'c began their journey from the hangar deck towards the bridge. It had only been a few minutes, when Jack signalled to Teal'c that he heard something. Teal'c inclined his head ever so slightly, indicating that he too heard voices up ahead of them. Their Zats were already out and ready and as they turned a bend, both men immediately fired on the three men with backs to them. Once the fake camera crew were collapsed on the floor, Jack took another step and relief flooded his body. Without hesitation, Jack rushed the few meters between himself and Sam and pulled her into a huge hug. He squeezed her close, feeling her tense and wary of his actions, but he needed to hold her. Despite the whispers of hope, he had feared the worst. He let out the breath he had not even realised he was holding when Sam relaxed against him, clinging onto his back. Still fully aware that they were on a mission and there were other unresolved tasks, Jack knew that he could only spare a minute to take comfort from his friend.

Moving his head slightly, he was able to whisper into her ear, "I thought you were dead."

"I nearly was."

"Don't." She nodded against him and he pulled away to briefly look Sam in her eyes. "I'm sorry." It was his hope that she understood what he was sorry for. There was certainly not enough time to give her the apology that she deserved; Jack was not too sure that he was capable of actually giving in words. He was sorry for how he had been acting, for how down he had been feeling and trying to not take it out too much on her. With every fibre of his being, he was sorry. "I can't lose you." His voice fell to an even lower whisper. Jack did not want his relationship with Sam to become one as bitter and twisted as his with Laira now was. It was not just for the fact that it would damage his relationship with Daniella, but also his friendship with Sam; that was something too valuable to lose.

"You won't," she whispered in reply and they each moved to rest their foreheads against each other. Jack closed his eyes for only a moment, relishing in the comforting touch of her arms around him, her body in his arms and the closeness of their heads. "We should, uh…" Her words caused him to pull away first before she then stepped a pace away from him. "Colonel, Daniel and the journalist were in the engine room."

He nodded at her, their brief break in regulations passed. "First things first, let's head to the engine room first and get us out of hyperdrive." He passed a spare Zat from its holster to Sam and ordered, "Lead the way, Major."

**Next Chapter – 6.12 Unnatural Selection**

_I realised whilst watching _6.11_ that it was, in fact, a two parter with _6.12_, but I've left the final scene of _6.11 _for the next chapter. With the arrival of Thor and his request for SG-1 to help with the replicator problem, will Jack be okay with Sam being part of the mission after his fearing she was dead? The next chapter is in sections, some of which do not feature Jack or Sam. It might also be a bit angsty and not nice due to the Replicators and their psychological torture. I'll try and post as separate chapters so you can either avoid non-SJ-ness or avoid torture! I decided a few chapters ago that the issue of Jack-Junior needed to be addressed and I began that with the last chapter. It then kind of evolved to have Jack acting out of sorts due to Laira and his son which kind of neatly played into the existing plot of this episode where Sam was captured and feared dead. I loved how in the episode Jack yelled at Major Davis, made me kind of warm inside and I realised that he would be even angrier in my timeline version :-)._


	10. 612 Unnatural SelectionPart 1

**Category**: Sam and Jack romance/angst, Team/family angst

**Spoilers: **Directly for 6.12 Unnatural Selection.

**Content Warnings:** Heavy angst regarding replicator torture!

**Summary:** SG-1 have been asked to help out the Asgard with a little replicator problem.

**Episode – 6.12 Unnatural Selection**

Sam was not too sure how her day could get much worse. It had started oddly enough when her bosses had seen fit to agree to take a film crew around the brand new, not yet finished, Prometheus ship. She had sensed something wrong from the outset, but mainly because she believed it was the wrong move to allow civilians onto a state of the art spaceship. The fact that the film crew had turned out to be under cover ex-NID agents had simply been the icing on top of the cake. Sam could have survived the hostage taking by going along with it, but she had stumbled upon their plan and for her own safety she had ended up locked in a storage cupboard which was not on a pressurised deck. With only seconds to spare, Sam had managed to get off of deck seven and was luckily rescued by Colonel O'Neill and Teal'c just as the NID film crew had stumbled upon her again. The Prometheus was now back under the control of SG-1, but due to the unfinished status of the ship, Sam had no idea where in space they were. Soon after revealing this to the others, Thor had arrived and Sam had thought this was going to be the moment the bad day would get better. Unfortunately, Thor needed SG-1's help before he could simply rescue them.

That would involve the Prometheus heading into replicator controlled space to get to the Asgard home world. Sam was not sure that she was ready for that kind of a mission. Ever since becoming pregnant, off world missions for Sam had always been relatively simple ones without much risk. Her simple mission to give a tour to a film crew had almost led to her death and she was concerned about a mission into such dangerous territory. An order was an order though and Sam needed to help make the galaxy a safe place for her daughter.

"Hang on a minute, Thor, old buddy. I mean, firstly this isn't my ship. I really should ask my superiors."

"I can arrange that on route, Colonel O'Neill, but we must leave immediately. It will take significantly longer for my ship to tow yours to Asgard space."

"Hold up! We don't have any food or provisions." O'Neill's protest seemed to make Thor reconsider and a moment later an image of Earth appeared on the view-screen.

"That can be arranged," Thor answered. "The other humans on board have all been transported to the surface and I have obtained weaponry, sustenance and clothing for the four of you." Thor moved a hand as if to make a command, but O'Neill stopped him.

"Can you transport Major Carter to the surface?" Everyone turned to look at the colonel; Sam felt everyone's eyes on him. She herself felt only anger.

"Excuse me, Colonel?"

"I want you back on Earth, Major." He turned to Thor. "Can you transport Lieutenant Carpenter aboard in her place?"

"Colonel, what are you doing?"

"Giving you an order, Major. Why? Are you questioning it?" As she opened her mouth to object, O'Neill turned to Thor and nodded his head, causing the ship around her to disappear in the brightest white light.

**SG – SG – SG**

It had not taken the ship long to travel to Replicator infested space where they had relatively easily landed the ship on what had turned out to be a giant ball of Replicator pieces. Jack now found himself wishing back just a few hours to when he, Teal'c and Daniel had been happily eating rapidly defrosting Ben and Jerry's ice cream because now he found himself face to face with five apparently human looking Replicators. During his lifetime, Jack had seen plenty of bad days, awful days in fact, but this one was proving to be very high up on the list of bad days. What should have been a simple _tour_ of the X303 had devolved into a good old fashioned kidnapping and near death of Sam before resulting in SG-1 and Earth's first star-ship being lost in space. When the Asgard had arrived, Jack had believed that they were going to take them all home and that the day would be over. He was looking forward to heading home and very simply spending time with his daughter and Sam. Unfortunately, it was still something that was in the future because Thor needed their help. Sometimes he regretted ever making contact with those little grey aliens; it was one thing to help out with a pesky Replicator problem, but an entirely different thing to deal with the evolved human forms.

Jack was fully aware that Sam was not going to be happy if he did ever get home after pulling rank on her in front of everyone, but given the reverse in time dilation field she would not want to be on the mission. Before leaving Thor at the edge of the time dilation field, the official figure had been that for every hour in the real world, four days went past in the _Replicator_ world.

"Where are my manners?" the leader of the human form Replicators asked with a smile. "Two new races meeting for the first time. Welcome."

Jack eyed him with incredible suspicion as the Replicator held out a hand for him to shake. He could sense his team-mates still on alert despite the fact that all of them had lowered their weapons.

"Please, colonel," the Replicator continued. "If we intended to cause you any harm, we would have done so already. We are each perfectly capable of a lot more than you are aware."

"That's reassuring." Jack hoped that the smile on his own face was as fake as the replicator's. "And it's not exactly our _first_ meeting now, is it?"

"Jack," Daniel warned in the tone that he so often used. He knew what his younger friend wanted to say. It would involve how they should give the Replicators a chance and that they should not be judged on the spidery ones' behaviour. Just like with Reese, Jack and Daniel's opinions differed greatly and there was no way that he was going to give these guys an opening. The sooner that they fixed the time dilation device and got out of the dilation field the better, and Jack was not going to be distracted by alien machine pleasantries.

"Daniel," Jack replied in the irritated tone which he saved for Daniel and these types of occasions.

Daniel appeared to not listen as he leant across Jack and took the Replicators' hand. "Daniel Jackson, pleased to meet you." Jack watched the Replicator as they shook hands and he saw absolutely nothing in the robot's eyes. It was only a few seconds before Daniel started to make pained noises followed by a scream of pain. Looking down at where their hands were shaking, Jack could see that the Replicator was trying to crush Daniel's hand.

"Hey, come on, now, there's no need for that!" All three members of SG-1 made a move towards Daniel at the same time, but paused as three of the other Replicators stepped towards them. That was when it happened simultaneously to all four of them, as far as Jack was aware anyway. One of the females moved her hand towards Jack and the room was filled with screams. Despite his own pain as the hand seemed to pass directly through his skin and skull, penetrating his brain, Jack was also sure that he could even hear Teal'c scream.

**For the interrogation/torture head to my website as that is the only place it is being posted elisemarie (dot) co (dot) uk. There are two chapters there; one involving Daniel and Teal'c, the other Carpenter and O'Neill. They are rated T-M to be on the safe side, but can be skipped.**


	11. 612 Unnatural Selection: Part 2

**This skips over the psychological torture chapters which can be found only on my website and are rated M on the safe side due to the violence and subject matter, to read them please visit elisemarie (dot) co (dot) uk .**

Jack heard his name being called and despite knowing that it was name and vaguely recognising the voice, he felt as if it was all completely wrong. As the fog of unconsciousness lifted, pain surrounded him and he wished for the darkness again. He fought it, though, and forced his eyes to open and in spite of the new level of pain it brought, Jack knew that it was his duty to ignore it all. Teal'c nodded at his consciousness and moved on. Slowly, Jack allowed his eyes to follow the Jaffa as he approached Daniel and then Carpenter to awaken them. He instantly remembered everything that had occurred. The human form Replicators who had taken over an entire planet and the torture that they had inflicted on him. It was only an assumption, but Jack was sure that a similar experience was had by the other three. It felt as if the psychological torture was the Replicator's way of causing physical pain and as such it was possibly the worst pain he had ever felt.

_You don't love me anymore. You love her more._

Jack shook his head with the echoes of his nightmare son and sat up straighter. "Carpenter?" He paused slightly. "You okay?"

She took longer to reply than normal, but eventually she replied, "Yes, sir." He could hear a pain in her voice that he hoped was not mirrored in his own. As a commanding officer, Jack was not supposed to show such a weakness to his junior officer.

"Good. Head down to the engine room with Teal'c and try and get something working. We either need to destroy this planet or get a message to Thor."

"Jack, we can't just destroy the entire planet." Jack looked at Daniel, questioning him with his eyes. "It may just give them more energy."

"Daniel, the sooner we end this, one way or another, the sooner we get home. Or not."

"We should still try and fix the time dilation device, or maybe even try and talk with the Replicators."

_You don't love me anymore. You love her more. _

_Bang!_

"Daniel, do they seem like they want to talk?" he shouted angrily. "I don't know whether you had nice, pretty dreams filled with flowers, but I did not! Now, Carpenter and Teal'c get to the damn engine room and Daniel, shut up."

"Colonel?"

Jack turned to Carpenter and questioned, "What?" She nodded her head toward the door and his eyes followed. The Replicator named Fifth was standing there and Jack immediately stood from the Captain's chair and grabbed a weapon up off of the floor.

Fifth raised his hands up in an act he could only have learnt from the mind of an SG member. "Colonel, your weapons will not work on me." Jack already knew this, but he refused to alter the sight of his gun. "I have come to invite you all to dinner. On First's request."

"And if we refuse?"

"The entire planet's surface is made of our brethren, Colonel. You cannot escape in time and the others will simply come and take you."

"Dinner, you say?"

**SG – SG – SG**

Sam was not sure that she had ever been as anxious as to have Jack home before. She was sitting in the kitchen at the breakfast bar with a cooling cup of coffee held in her hands. She had lost count of the number of cups that she had drunk in the past few hours, but she had not finished a cup. Every time that the coffee went cold, Sam simply made herself a fresh cup which she proceeded to sip at occasionally until it became too cold. At first she had sat at home, angrily awaiting Jack's return because he had sent her back to Earth without her agreement. It had not even really been an order. Jack had simply pulled rank on her. Her anger had not dissipated, but Janet had telephoned her a few hours earlier to briefly explain what had happened to SG-1 on the Replicator planet. She was not breaching patient-doctor confidentiality, but she was informing her best friend to not unleash all of her anger. This only troubled Sam because Jack was mostly un-flappable. He had only been gone two days in total, but that included the travelling time and so could be a lot more than two days on the planet. In hindsight, Sam was glad that Jack was returning home during the day whilst Sasha was out with Daniella.

It was not long before Sam heard the key in the front door and Jack's steps as he entered the house and came straight into the kitchen. He smiled at her as they saw each other and she indicated to him that there was still fresh coffee in the machine. After pouring himself a cup, Jack sat down opposite her and stared at his cup for a few moments before speaking, "I'm sorry."

"What for?"

"For how I've been the past few weeks. For sending you back to Earth without hearing you out. It was wrong of me, but you need to understand why I did it."

"Why did you do it, Jack?" It seemed a little bit unreal that he was opening up and apologising like he was without being prompted.

He looked up and met her eyes. "I'd already thought you to be dead once that day. I wasn't willing to risk you in Replicator space."

Nodding at him, Sam knew that he had allowed the lines to blur. "I understand, I just never thought that you'd use your rank like that." She did understand his actions, but still found it unsettling that he had used their ranks to enforce an emotional decision. That was the very thing that they were each attempting to not allow happen.

"You weren't supposed to be off-world. I'm glad you didn't come with us."

"Why? What happened to you?" She was still unaware as to what had occurred during the mission, only that they had all returned but Janet was worried about them. If Jack needed molly-coddling then something serious had transpired.

"They're humans." His voice was just a whisper and Sam was unsure if was due to the possibility of being overheard or because it caused him pain. She did not believe what he had stated, though, there was no way that the Replicators were human.

"They can't be, Jack, they're machines."

"In human form, with skin and eyes and everything else to make them look human."

"Whoa." Part of her could not help but think that it must have been amazing to witness such an evolution.

"But inside they are still machines. With a simple touch of their hand, they're inside your mind." He tapped at his right temple. "They know everything. There's no defence, no fighting, no resistance. Just pain as they learn everything about you, twisting memories and dreams into nightmares." A wince crossed his face as if he could remember something and she reached over to cover his hand. Sharply, Jack withdrew his hand and then pushed his untouched cup of coffee away. "Is Daniella asleep upstairs?"

Sam shook her head. "She's out with Sasha."

"I might go wait in her room. I could do with reminding myself that there is some innocence in the world."

"Yes, there is, Jack, and it's what we fight for every day." He barely acknowledged her as he left the room quietly. She was sure that she would learn more about SG-1's ordeal over the coming days, but it did little to calm her fears. It seemed to simply be one thing after another with them.

**Next Chapter – 6.13 Sight Unseen.**

_This episode just grew and grew! It really was not supposed to be this long. The next chapter has some Sam and Jack angst and is family orientated. There should be some good Sam/Jack-ness in there with a smidge of various friendships thrown in, too. I really enjoyed this chapter, but decided to post it as separate ones so that people could avoid the nightmares if they wanted to. I do apologise for Jack's quite horrible one, but I enjoyed giving Nicola some back story!_


	12. 613 Sight Unseen

**Category**: Sam and Jack angst, Team/family angst

**Spoilers: **Directly for 6.13 and minor for the past few chapters.

**Content Warnings:** Mild peril.

**Summary:** SG-1 are put on downtime because of Daniel's odd hallucinations of insects flying through walls and Jack returns home from an otherwise normal mission. That is, until he starts to see things similar to those Daniel described. Before he can do anything about his own problem, his panic hits new heights when Daniella starts exhibiting the same signs.

**Episode – 6.13 Sight Unseen**

Jack was actually happy relaxing at home. He knew that he should be worried, or still at the base trying to help his fellow teammate and friend, but he was glad to be at home relaxing. After General Hammond had ordered SG-1's stand down due to the unexplained hallucinations that Daniel was receiving, Jack had immediately headed to Sam's laboratory where she was spending her day working. He had no idea what she had been in the middle of doing, but it had not taken much to convince her to ditch work. It was not very often that they both managed to get the same time off to spend it with their daughter and Jack was glad that neither of them were wasting the opportunity to. Sasha had welcomed the chance to go out for the day and had quickly arranged a shopping trip with her friends. This left Jack and Sam sitting on the floor of their den with their eleven month old daughter. Daniella was standing up right, unaided with both parents carefully watching her for the moment that she faltered and fell. She was getting better at sitting straight down when she did start to lose her balance, but there was always the worry that she was going to go head first into something. Sam had mentioned to Jack one day as she went off to work that the house needed baby-proofing and he did it all before she returned that day.

Since then they had both been eagerly awaiting the day that Daniella took her first step. Jack actually felt worried that he would miss it because there was something about his daughter that made him not want to miss anything. It was not only the curse of his job alone, but of work in general which meant he would miss huge milestones in his child's life and whilst Jack knew that there was nothing to be done about it, he still wished that it was different. Daniella had mastered the words _mama_ and _dada_ and every time that he heard the word come from his daughter's mouth, Jack's face smiled. She had also learnt her own name, but called herself and Daniel _Anyan_. Jack was considering calling his friend Anyan all of the time.

Smiling at Daniella for passing him a toy and then falling down onto her diaper cushioned bum, Jack tried not to think about his friend. It did worry him that maybe Daniel was finally cracking up and would soon only be fit for a mental hospital. Part of him hoped that it was caused by something Stargate related and that with Carpenter, Daniel could figure it out soon, but not so that they could all return to work. He was enjoying his day off. With Daniella firmly and safely sitting on the floor, Sam started handing her different coloured building blocks. Daniella loved it when someone else would build her a wall out of the blocks that she could then knock down. She would giggle and giggle and make Jack think she was even more gorgeous than normal. She was the cutest baby he had ever seen.

"How's Daniel coping though?" Sam asked with a smile directed at Daniella.

"He's trying to focus on the artefact we brought back, but I think he's more troubled by why he's seeing things rather than what he's seeing."

"I hope there is a simple explanation," Sam agreed, passing Daniella the last block. Jack watched as his daughter then started building a wall or something for one of them to knock down. As she did so, Jack finished his cup of coffee.

"I'm going to make another coffee, want one?"

"No, thanks," Sam shook her head. Jack stood and made his way into the kitchen, clearly hearing his daughter and Sam laughing after the clash of blocks falling to the carpet. Deciding that he was going to sneak a snack first, Jack reached for the cookie jar and lifted the lid off. As he did so, something caught his eye and Jack turned towards it, the lid in his hand. On the floor by the door to the back yard was a very long creature that Jack knew immediately was not of terrestrial origin. The cookie jar lid dropped from his hand as Jack could do nothing but stare at the lime green, centipede looking creature scutter around the floor. "Jack?" Sam called from the other room and slowly Jack backed out of the kitchen, not taking his eyes from the creature, before finally turning back to Sam and Daniella who were still on the floor. Daniella's expression was still that of a carefree child, but Sam's brow had furrowed. "Jack, are you okay?"

He opened his mouth to answer, but the sounds of two separate cell phones ringing stopped him. They looked at each other and then at the phones which lay on the nearby table. Jack already knew that it would be the SGC. Reaching for his, Jack also picked up Sam's and was in the process of passing it to Sam when he stopped, mid-lean. "Can you see that?" he whispered as if by talking too loudly he would scare off the new creature his eyes were seeing.

Jack felt Sam's eyes study him before following his gaze. "See what, Jack?" He quickly glanced at her, not wanting to take his eyes from the creature for too long given its proximity to the three of them.

"The large black, butterfly looking thing hovering behind Daniella." It was much larger than any terrestrial butterfly and a lot uglier looking. Jack was not sure how to move Daniella away from it without upsetting or scaring her. It was then that Daniella chose to pick up a block and pass it to her mum. As she turned, she paused, looking in the direction of the hallucination Jack could see. With the cell phones still ringing and Sam silently watching them both, oblivious to the creature, Daniella started screaming and shuffling away from the hallucination.

**SG – SG – SG**

"Did you think for anytime there that maybe you were going crazy?"

Daniel looked up from his notes and considered Nicola for a moment. It was a fair question. "Maybe a bit. Alien things have made me crazy before." Thankfully there was nothing that connected the artefact to Machello. "There's plenty of people who travel through the Stargate more frequently than we do so I'm sure that there's no link there." He was still seeing the oddly coloured creatures, but at least he was no longer the only one and he was able to continue working on the artefact. Everyone was sharing the same vision, which meant that it was probably linked to the artefact so it was up to him and Nicola to solve the problem.

"They're not all human that do it. Maybe we've become weaker humans by living here so secluded. We go out into this galaxy and what right do we have, we have no idea of the full extent of the dangers?"

"Nic, what's this about?"

She put down the notes she had been reading and Daniel doubted she had actually been paying attention to them. "When it was just you seeing the hallucinations, I did think that maybe you were going a bit crazy."

"Thanks." They both smiled.

"You've been doing this for almost six years and I… I'm not too sure how you do that." She stared down onto the desk and Daniel sat silently watching her, waiting for her to continue and not pushing the conversation. "There has to be some effect of being so secluded from everything else all of this time. We may share similar DNA, but there has to other differences. Different bacteria, different amounts of radiation, different causes of insanity. We've only known about these other planets for a handful of years. All of these other people have lived with a galaxy in their front yard their entire lives."

"Most of the planets we've encountered that regularly use the Stargate are normally under Goa'uld rule. They live in pitiful conditions under tyrannical rule, forced to use the Stargate sometimes. Other planets have only just discovered the Stargate. I don't think our biology is significantly different to any of the others to cause the Stargate to affect us."

"You say that now, but we don't know. After you'd been banned from working near the artefact by General Hammond, I took a ten minute doze next to it. I had a strange dream with how I thought your hallucinations looked."

"It's understandable to. Especially given that they're not hallucinations and you can now see them."

"I've been having terrible dreams for a few weeks."

"Since…?"

"Since we betrayed Fifth and used a sentient being's humanity against him. We say that we're trying to protect and help the galaxy because of our humanity, but I don't feel very human at the moment."

"What did the Replicators make you see?" he asked. None of them had fully discussed the torture applied by the Replicators. Teal'c had summarised his as involving his son, Jack had not uttered a word, Nicola had been oddly quiet even in private and Daniel had explained that his had involved the Goa'uld, Sha're and Sarah. Nicola had been the quietest since the event and Daniel had been putting that down to the decision Jack made to betray Fifth. Jack had moved on almost immediately, ignoring what they had done and what had been done to them.

"You and Teal'c had imaginary scenes based on your fears. I had a memory replayed."

"A bad one, I take it?"

Nodding, "And then Colonel O'Neill made the decision he made and since then I keep thinking about Fifth and the memory they forced upon me. I've tried speaking to Doctor MacKenzie, but the dreams don't stop, the thoughts don't go away. I don't know how you can have worked with him for all these years."

"With Jack?"

"I guess it's different for you because he's not your commanding officer. You can question him on his orders or decisions, like as we left the Asgard planet. I can't. I learnt a long time ago to keep work separate from me, but it's nowhere near as easy in this job."

"What happened to you?" he asked in a quiet voice.

"I saw a good friend die partly because of me, partly because of a CO's actions. Ever since then, I keep work at work."

Before Daniel could answer a crowd of people burst into the room. "I'd like to keep work at work!" Jack declared angrily, storming up to Daniel and Nicola who both sat up straighter on their chairs.

"Jack? What?" Daniel asked and then Sam came into view with Daniella in her arms.

"You better be working on the damn solution to these visions," she demanded as Daniella screamed in fear at the artefact and everyone in the room could see the over-sized orange caterpillar crawling all over it.

**SG – SG – SG**

"Sam, we're trying our best here."

"Don't give me that, Daniel," Sam argued. She knew that she was being irrational, over the top and that her anger was misdirected. Unfortunately all that she could hear were her daughter's screams in fear.

"Sam, try and calm down."

"What, because you're the picture of calm, Jack?" she snapped at Jack, ignoring the fact that they were inside the SGC and technically at work. Sam was fully aware of the rules governing their fragile work-life balance: at home he was Jack, anywhere linked to work and he was Colonel O'Neill. Today was an exception and Sam was going to speak to Jack however she wished.

"Maybe I'm not," Jack argued back in what Sam could only describe as a far too calm voice to even be his. "But, I'm not the one holding our daughter and possibly making her worse."

"Sam, Jack," Daniel interrupted, "We've been working on this ever since General Hammond gave us the go ahead."

"I know it must be troubling," Carpenter suggested, "but as far as we know there is no damage occurring."

"No damage!" Jack repeated with some anger and impatience clearly evident in his voice. "I almost crashed my car driving here because of some… thing, that covered my windscreen."

Daniella began crying constantly, her eyes barely open from how scrunched up her face was. Sam had no idea what to do to calm her. As her mother, she should know how to soothe her child and normally she did. It was usually the process of elimination: diaper, feeding, sleep, burping. Nowhere in the baby handbook had there been a chapter on how to deal with a child that was seeing scary things which possibly were actually present. No matter how frequently people told her that the creatures were harmless, that the artefact was harmless, Sam simply could not believe them, not when her daughter had not stopped screaming and crying for the past half hour. Not when Daniella's face was redder than a tomato, her clothes were soaked through from the tears and her breathing was far from regular. Sam had moved past caring that her own shirt was wet from where Daniella had been crying into it. For the first time in a long time, Sam felt unable to do her job and fix a Stargate related problem. Even worse than that, Sam had never felt so useless at being a mother. Jack and Daniel were still bickering, but Sam could not hear them over Daniela's wails that were so close to her ear. Her poor baby's voice was going to be so hoarse soon, and then the red-raw throat would hurt her causing more tears and pain. "Just fix it and make my baby okay!" she yelled from out of nowhere.

Both men were silenced and, along with Carpenter, they looked at Sam in shock. Even Daniella paused in her sobs to look at her mother, but it was only for a moment as she then began to cry again. Sam shifted, shushing Daniella in her only option at trying to placate her. Jack took only a second before he had stepped toward Sam and Daniella, putting his arms around both of them, stroking Sam's hair as she stroked Daniella's head. "It's going to be okay, Sam," he promised. Sam nodded her head against him, hoping beyond everything that it was a promise he could successfully keep.

**SG – SG – SG**

A short while later, Sam was slightly happier as she sat next to a crib in the main infirmary, Daniella was asleep after Janet had opted for giving the child a mild sedative. She had fallen asleep quite quickly after that and Sam's heart did feel a bit lighter. She was still concerned for Daniella, for all of them, but at least her child was no longer in fear of things that no child should be. It was one thing for children to be scared of monsters and the Boogie Man, but it was another to actually see those monsters. It had crossed her mind to head back to the laboratory to help Daniel and Carpenter, along with apologising to them, but Sam was not willing to leave Daniella's side. Sitting there with Janet reminded her of when they had first found Cassie.

"How's Cassie?" Sam was aware that it was a slightly random question and could be seen as coming out of nowhere.

"Like every other seventeen year old girl. She already thinks she's a woman and that I don't always know best." The smile on Janet's face showed that it was not an actual problem, more like a growing pain and normal life.

"It seems like only yesterday that I was heading down into that bunker with her. And now I'm sitting here with my own daughter, worried beyond worry."

"Cassie survived that. She's survived a lot for a girl of her age. I'm sure that Daniella won't have a stereotypical youth." Sam laughed at her friend's comments. "But she will survive it. Cassie's a Junior and has made it to the top of most of her classes. For an alien, that's pretty good going. Daniella has you and Colonel O'Neill as parents, so she already has the brains. Whatever gets thrown at her, terrestrial or not, she will survive just as Cassie has, just as you and SG-1 always do."

"I still can't believe she's a Junior already. I know I've been preoccupied, but it still feels as if she should be a Freshman."

"Preoccupied, Sam, what are you talking about?"

"I rarely see her. A lot of the time, I only see you because we have lunch together when I'm on base. She'll be going off to University soon and I probably won't even realise." Sam felt tears well up in her eyes and she found herself wondering if it was the emotion of the day getting to her or if her hormones were causing her to have a mini melt down.

"You're a new mother, of course you're going to have been busy. Especially with the job you do. Anyway, Cassie is a typical teenager and is barely ever home. All that you've missed is her grunting as she walks past, heading out with whatever friend of the week or maybe slamming a few doors." There was a slight pause and then Janet continued, with a smile, "You've got all of that to look forward to, whilst I'm just sitting there laughing at you."

"Thanks a lot, Janet." Sam smiled completely genuinely and felt incredibly appreciative of her best friend. "She's going to be fine."

"Until the next alien related thing, which we'll all be there for."

"I need to go and apologise to Daniel and Carpenter." Sam stood up and then paused. "You'll contact me if she wakes up." Janet nodded at Sam's obvious question. "Thank you. And I don't just mean for helping Daniella."

"Any time." Both women smiled before Sam then left for a quick visit to the lab.

**SG – SG – SG**

Jack pressed the button for the elevator, a sleeping Daniella on his left arm, her head resting on his shoulder. The sedatives Janet had given her had worn off hours ago, but she was still so tired from the events of the day that she had soon gone back to sleep. Thankfully, Daniel and Carpenter had figured out what the artefact had done and managed to reverse it. Since then no one had seen any creatures and SGC personnel had managed to track down everyone who had become infected. It still troubled him slightly that the creatures were actually still present, just in a parallel dimension. Hopefully that thought would soon fade from his brain so he could return to his normal state of being. Turning slightly, Jack ushered Sam into the elevator first and then followed her in. They stood there in silence for a few minutes until Sam spoke.

"I'm going to arrange a girlie thing with Janet and Cassie sometime after your next mission. Will that be okay?"

"Of course it is," he replied, glancing over at her. "I'm able to be left alone with our daughter." He gave a slight smile in her direction, trying not to concentrate on the term our daughter. It still jarred him slightly whenever he said it, despite their confusing yet successful relationship. Maybe he was more aware of it after earlier when, without conscious thought, he had hugged the mother of his child whilst in the SGC. Apart from the incident on-board the F302, Jack had never used their private life in the work place. Neither of them had abused either situation with the other.

"I'm so glad that today's over."

"Tell me about it."

"I can't help worrying that it could have been so much worse. Or that it could have been solved quicker if I'd have been able to help."

"Sam," Jack paused, again aware that he never called her by her name whilst at work. If she noticed anything odd, her face did not give it away. "You were where you needed to be. And, unfortunately, it's the risk we run every day – things being worse."

"Not with Daniella." On cue, their daughter fidgeted in his arms and Jack looked at Sam, their eyes locking. Her eyes were filled with fear and worry. "Not with our daughter."

**Next Chapter – 6.14 Smoke and Mirrors**

_This took ages to get the motivation to write! But once I got onto Sam's POV, it flowed more. I really enjoyed the parallels that Sam must be feeling with regards to Daniella and when they first encountered Cassie. I also decided early on in the planning of this chapter that their shared panic over Daniella would cause any "out of character" aspects that happened._


	13. 614 Smoke and Mirrors

**Category**: Sam and Jack romance/angst, Team/family angst

**Spoilers: **Directly for 6.14 Smoke and Mirrors

**Content Warnings:** None.

**Summary:** It's almost Daniella's first birthday, but Jack is arrested for Senator Kinsey's murder.

**Episode – 6.14: Smoke and Mirrors**

Jack whistled as he walked through the corridor of the SGC. Some airmen gave him an odd look, but he ignored them. They were probably questioning the child that sat on his side that he was carrying through the base. It was not his daughter, Daniella, and many people were probably unaware that he had a second child, let alone a reason to be bringing them onto the base. It possibly also did not help that he was not in uniform, but then he was not reporting for duty. It had been surprisingly easy to persuade Laira, the mother of his son, to allow him to visit with Jack and he was still waiting for the other shoe to drop. Jack-Junior, as he had been christened by his mother, but JJ as Jack called him because he found it too odd to call his child by his own name, was now a normal toddler who came with bags of toddler tantrums. For a multitude of reasons, Jack had thought it best to visit his cabin with JJ rather than take him to the home he shared with Daniella, her mother and the live-in Nanny. Sam had understood immediately; if JJ came to stay in their home then she would become a step-parent to him. She had not spoken the words out loud, but Jack was sure that she was not exactly willing to become a step-parent when there was no relationship beyond friendship between her and Jack. There was also the fact that Jack had not exactly been truthful to Laira, in that, he had not told her that he had a daughter with Sam.

A two year old passing on that information was not ideal. As Jack had feared, there were definite teething problems with having JJ stay with him, but he still thought they had bonded after the first night and the temper tantrums calmed down. It was similar to how he had not known what was going on with Daniella when he had moved in with them both. It had not taken him long to learn and now, Jack considered himself like any other father. There would be bigger obstacles in that happening with JJ and it would most certainly take longer given the gaps in seeing his son, but Jack was sure that one day everything would work out and JJ would call him _dad_, but for now he had to prepare to take his son home and hope that Laira did not give him too much grief. Then he could go home and spend some time with Daniella.

As he entered the office in which all his team were standing. He immediately felt an odd tension within the room, especially as all four of them turned to him, grim looks upon their faces. JJ did not seem to notice as he gurgled away to himself, but Jack looked at his team-mates quizzically. "What?"

"Sir, haven't you heard?" Carter asked and Jack shook his head. "It's Senator Kinsey. He's dead."

Internally, an element of shock ran through him, but Jack was too used to covering his thoughts and keeping his emotions away from his face and posture. "What happened?" It was not as if he was fully actually interested in the answer, other than to find the guy who did it and buy him a beer.

"He was shot," Daniel answered, "live on TV as he was making a speech."

"They haven't found the perpetrator," Carpenter added with a slight sad look on her face. The poor younger lieutenant barely knew who the bad players were in the world of Stargate politics.

"I'm sure they will," Jack mumbled because he really did not actually give a damn about the dead man.

"Do you think it has anything to do with him running for president?" Carpenter asked, but before anyone could answer, General Hammond entered the room with two airmen behind him. Jack turned to face him, instantly knowing that their day was about to get worse.

"General?"

"Colonel, I'm sorry to do this right now."

"Do what?"

"These men have been sent to take you into custody."

"Into custody for what?" Daniel demanded, stepping forward and closer to Jack and the general.

"For the murder of Senator Kinsey."

Jack's jaw tightened as everyone around him started talking at once. They were protesting or questioning, no doubt, but he could not hear them. The thoughts within his mind were louder than any voices surrounding him, thoughts of his children and the fear that he was about to be sent to jail for a crime he had often considered doing, but had not done. His eyes flickered to his left and he saw Carter standing there despite the fact that he had not heard anyone approach him. Without a word, he passed JJ to her and ignored the slightly taken aback look on her face. It was the least of his worries if she was uncomfortable taking his son, as was the fact that he was not sure if she was _Sam_ or_ Carter_ right now. Once JJ was securely in Carter's arms, Jack said, "Make sure he gets home." And then he was led away by the airmen, his team still vocally protesting.

**SG – SG – SG**

Standing at the base of the off-world Stargate, Daniel felt rather uncomfortable. As an only child and growing up in foster care, he had never had much interaction with children, especially babies. Yet he was now alone, on an alien planet with another couple's toddler in his arms and a bag of essentials on the floor. Over the past year, Daniel had spent a significant amount of time with Daniella; he was her Uncle Daniel although she could not yet say his name correctly. She was a lot younger than Jack-Junior and had spent her year getting to know him. To Jack-Junior, Daniel was a complete stranger and that resulted in a very grumpy toddler. He had already radioed through to Laira that he would be bringing Jack-Junior home soon, so he was hoping that she would not take too long. Turning around on the spot a bit, Daniel took a scout around and saw Laira approaching them. Her arms were crossed and she did not seem too happy.

"I was expecting Jack." Her tone was curt and snippy. She reached for JJ and Daniel allowed him to go. There was an immediate quieter JJ now that he was in his mother's arms. Her face softened at holding him.

"Hello to you, too."

Through a glare at him she said, "Apologies, however, it was our arrangement that my son would be in the care of his father and not anyone else. How am I now to trust him with my own flesh and blood again? I have been incredibly gracious in allowing him to take my son to a different planet, Daniel."

"I understand that," Daniel stuttered slightly. "There really have been extenuating circumstances."

"Of that, I am sure. Did he tire of his son again? Did he decide that it was too much work? Did Major Carter have a problem with my son's visit?"

He looked at her in shock and confusion. "No. What? No, Sam was fine with Jack spending time with his son."

"Of course she was. Did they play happy families together?"

"No, Sam and Daniella didn't spend any time with Jack and your son the past weekend. I mean, Sam met Jack-Junior this morning, but there was no family time or anything."

"Daniella?" Laira said, taking the bag of JJ's essentials from the floor and heading towards the DHD. Daniel automatically followed her.

"Yeah, Jack wanted to spend quality time with his son, before he met his sister. And I think two children would have been too much of a handful for Jack."

"Jack-Junior's sister, Daniella."

Daniel nodded. "Yes," he said as he began to dial the Stargate.

"Who is Major Carter's and Jack's daughter?"

He looked at her in confusion, feeling as if he was telling her things that she did not even know. It then dawned on him that perhaps she did not know and that perhaps Jack had not been completely truthful. "Didn't Jack tell you?"

"No. No, he did not."

**SG – SG – SG**

Fidgeting with her hands slightly, Sam forced them into fists hanging on either side. She did not want him to see how concerned or agitated the situation was making her. So far the evidence against Jack was growing and it troubled her. She knew that he had not done it despite the fact that there was no love lost between him and the senator; Jack would never risk his family life, especially as he had been with his son for the weekend. It served him as having no witnesses in his cabin as JJ was too young, but anyone who knew Jack knew that he would not leave any child alone even if it were a secret mission from the air force. That led Sam to the only conclusion viable: someone was setting Jack up. Teal'c and Carpenter had already visited Jack, a few days prior and now it was Sam's turn. In some ways she had been avoiding this. She was not sure why. He was her commanding officer and friend, but he was also able to read what she was thinking without trying. Her face and body always betrayed her when it came to Jack. Sam kept trying to think of him as O'Neill in an attempt to keep her emotions slightly more in check, but that was difficult when her daughter missed him. It was the first time that she was actually glad that their jobs often took them both away from Daniella; she was used to her father being absent for a few days, perhaps a week, at a time. The hunt for the real killer of Kinsey had already led Sam to an overnight visit to Area 51, therefore abandoning her daughter, but resulting in the discovery that the mimic devices from an earlier foothold situation were missing. At least with Jack in jail, whoever had the mimic devices could only impersonate Daniel, Major Davis and a handful of airmen.

The door at the back of the cell opened and Jack soon appeared, giving Sam a very tight, forced smile. She had imagined the cell would look like a standard prison - dark, little light and soul-destroying. At least Jack's cell was light and he was not forced into an orange jumpsuit. "How are you doing?" she asked him, knowing that it was an incredibly stupid question.

He raised his eyebrows in an "I'm all right" gesture and she nodded. He moved closer to the bars and leant against them. "You find anything?"

"The mimic devices have gone missing. We think someone impersonated you, setting you up when you have no alibi and killing two birds with one stone."

"You need to find whoever threw that stone."

"I'm on it, sir." Their eyes met as the words slipped out. She had no idea if she was visiting him as his second in command or as the mother of his child. The complications that had always existed were getting worse, tangling together and forming impossible knots. "I have a lead to follow in Washington so I'm heading there after here."

Nodding, he asked her, "How long will you be gone for?"

"As long as it takes."

"It's just that it's Daniella's birthday in just over a week."

"I know," she whispered. It had almost slipped her mind that Daniella was about to have her first ever birthday. "We'll both be back home for it."

"I missed too much of her first few months, I don't want to miss anything else."

She wanted to reach through the bars and put her hand on his. She wanted to bring him some small amount of comfort, but she knew that she could not. Regardless of anything else, she was in uniform and there were cameras recording everything in the room. As far as everyone was aware, they were simply team-mates who lived together and had a child. As she had once said to Jack, they practically lived together when on missions and the differences were miniscule. Or that was the argument they made to others. She knew that it was not that simple. Trying to comfort him now whilst only a small, harmless action, would cross the line further than anything that ever occurred at home. Instead, she nodded at him. "We'll find out who's behind this." She smiled at him and then left him alone in his prison. Oddly, she felt as if she too were in a prison, alone.

**SG – SG – SG**

Breathing a very large sigh of relief, Jack slipped his key into the lock. It had been the longest few days and, sadly, the last two days had been the longest. After receiving the news that Kinsey was not dead, but in a coma to tease out whoever had tried to kill him, Jack had then been exonerated by the work of his team. He was freed from his physical cell, but asked to remain local for an extra day of two until the senator was well enough and the two of them could go on national television. Jack was no longer sure what experience was worse - being in jail or shaking hands with Senator-soon-to-be-President Kinsey. As he started to push the door open, it suddenly moved away from him, opening from the inside. Either welcoming him home or on his way out, was Daniel.

"Oh, er, hi, Jack."

"Hello."

"I was just leaving."

"Okay."

"Glad you're home. I'm, uh, sorry."

"Sorry? For what?" Jack asked, completely confused by the conversation.

"I gotta go," and with that Daniel disappeared past him. Walking into his house, Jack went straight into the living room where no one was present so he headed through into the kitchen. Sam and Sasha were sitting around the kitchen table, but as he entered, Sasha put her cup down and stood up.

"I'll go check on Daniella." It was nearing the end of her nap time. As Sasha walked past Jack she said, "Glad you're home."

Jack then looked at Sam and saw only anger on her face. "What's happened?" he asked, refraining from asking what it was that he had done. Sam ignored the question, continuing to look at her drink and refusing to look at him. "Sam?"

Loudly she stood up, the chair scraping along the floor. "Daniel took your son home. I thought it would be odd for me to and that Laira wouldn't take too kindly to it." She was randomly moving around the kitchen, putting things away, rearranging things for the hell of it as she spoke. "But apparently, according to Daniel anyway, she probably wouldn't have minded seeing me as she knows nothing about our living arrangements." She turned and looked at him, disappointment clear in her eyes. "Or the fact that we have a daughter together." He opened his mouth to speak, not that he had any idea as to what he should say. An apology seemed severely insufficient. "Lying about me, Jack, I can almost understand. But lying about your daughter." She shook her head in sadness. "I thought I knew you better than that." As she moved to leave the room, he grabbed her by the elbow purely as a means to stop her. She snatched her arm away and glared at him. "Don't." For only a few seconds, they both stood there until Sam spoke again, "I'm going out for the afternoon. To leave you with your daughter who you'd rather hide from the world." Jack was most definitely in the dog house all because he had not been able to keep his secret from coming out. Or perhaps he should not have lied, or at least told Sam the truth. It was not anything to do with her or their daughter, it was purely how Laira would react and the ramifications of that. Sam would calm down, Jack was sure of it.

**The End.**

**Next Chapter – Daniella's First Birthday**

_Not an episode based chapter next, as I thought it was about time that she had a birthday! She was born somewhere around the episode 5.17 Fail Safe and I figure a season isn't necessarily a year. This chapter came quite easily, which is good because the past few have either been long or difficult. Hopefully, I'm back in a groove as I have a plan from here through 6.16 Metamorphosis. I do need to figure out when Christmas is though!_


	14. 614B First Birthday

**Category**: Sam and Jack angst, family angst

**Spoilers:** General up until now.

**Content Warnings:** None

**Summary:** It's Daniella's first birthday and time for some nice family fun time together. If Sam had forgiven Jack and was talking to him that is.

**Episode – In between 6.14 and 6.15. This is **not** an episode based chapter.**

Jack really could not believe that it had been a whole year, that his daughter was a year old. Maybe it was because he had not learnt that he even had a daughter until she was almost seven months old and so had only been a father for five months. So much had happened in the past five months though, that sometimes it did feel like a whole year. It was more than he could ask for to be watching his year old daughter opening presents, playing with her new toys and being the center of everyone's attention. Uncle Daniel, Auntie Janet, Uncle Teal'c, Grampa George and a few of Sam's scientist friends were present along with the mothers and children from groups that Sam attended, and Sasha was due back later. The only person really missing was Jacob, which Jack was actually kind of pleased about. Aside from his shared time with the elder Carter on the Alpha Site, neither Sam nor Jack had seen Daniella's grand-father since the discovery that Jack was her father. Sam had tried to speak with her dad, inviting him to the party. The Tok'ra had informed her that Jacob/Selmak were indisposed of on a mission and they would not be able to get the message through to him. Sam had mentioned it to Jack a few days before the party and he been relieved. He had no idea how they were ever going to break the news to Jacob and Jack thought that a children's party was hardly the right situation. It was not as if he could discuss this with Sam anyway as she was still ignoring him and blanking him most of the time.

When they were at work, on the base, Sam treated Jack no different, but as soon as they stepped off of the base, a frosty, hostile atmosphere filled the air. It had been almost a week since Jack had been released with all charges dropped after the assassination attempt on Senator Kinsey. It had also been almost a week since Sam had discovered that Jack had not informed Laira of Daniella. Jack knew that he should have been honest with Sam, telling her and explaining to her why Laira was kept in the dark and that it had nothing to do with Daniella. After his torture at the hands of the human form Replicators, Jack had decided that he needed to see his son again and that something needed to be done to form a proper bond. Jack wanted to know his son and to do that, it would be easier to have JJ visit him rather than the other way around. As for him not telling Laira the developments in his life, it was partly because he wanted to spend as little time with the woman as possible and because she would make his life more difficult and cause more problems in him seeing his son. Jack had not been able to explain any of this to Sam because she refused to hear it. They had discussed the birthday party and anything else related directly to their daughter whilst not at work, but that was it. There was a definite frosty barrier between them both which Jack had no doubt that his daughter could feel, that everyone could feel it in fact. If it were not for the fact that they were not romantically involved and already in separate bedrooms, Jack had no doubt that given Sam's mood, he would be on the couch or in the spare room.

"I think it might be time for the cake!" Sam declared with a large smile on her face and left the room. Hating the fact that Sam was unhappy most of the time now, Jack could not resist following her into the kitchen.

"The day's going well, isn't it?" he asked from a few feet away from her as she lit the candle.

She turned to him and smiled, nodding, but he could still see a distance in her eyes. "Daniella seems to be loving all of the attention."

"I know this isn't the right time, but I feel like there's a cloud hanging over what should be an amazing day."

"And whose fault is that, Jack?" she asked, her eyes on the flickering candle flame.

"If you would only let me explain."

"Will you just quit it?" she snapped, trying to keep her voice quiet. She did not try and control her tone, however. "This is so messed up. So completely messed up." She turned to face him, anger and frustration blazing on her face. "Honestly, if this was a normal relationship, I could actually avoid you, but because of our screwed up family life, I can't."

"Screwed up? What's so screwed up about it?" He understood that it was different, perhaps unique, but not that it was detrimental to anyone.

"Don't you think at some point, as Daniella gets older, she's going to start getting confused as to why mommy and daddy have separate bedrooms, or that they're like everyone else's mommy and daddy. Hell, Jack, however often _I'm_ confused. What happens if either of us meets someone?"

Having no idea from where everything Sam was thinking and saying came, Jack had no idea how long these things had been troubling her. The fact that it was things that he had never even considered made him even less able to know how to respond to her. Instead, Jack said the first thing that came to mind. "Have you met someone?"

Growling in annoyance, Sam picked up the purple cake in the shape of Barney the Dinosaur, and walked past Jack. She paused just passed him and said, "We're having a family photo. The three of us and the cake." Spinning on his heel and plastering a smile on his face, Jack followed her, playing the dutiful father role.

**SG – SG – SG**

Sighing with a new found level of contentment and peace, Sam opened the door to her house and went in. After Daniella's party on the Friday afternoon, Sam had escaped for the Saturday and night with Janet and Cassie by venturing out to a spa. All three of them had needed the time away although it had taken a few hours and being wrestled to the floor, before Cassie had relinquished her cell phone. After that, the three women had enjoyed suanas, hot tubs and a variety of different treatments. Unfortunately, it was now Sunday afternoon and Sam had to return to her life and work. Part of her felt awful that she and Jack had been arguing so badly during their daughter's birthday party, but it did not make her want to simply forget what he had done. As she closed the door behind her, Sam felt a lot of the stress related to Jack and their relationship fall back onto her, undoing the hours of work at the spa. What had started as anger over being lied to and having her daughter be covered up, had evolved into Sam questioning how long they could continue as they were. Despite Jack's question of whether she had met someone, Sam had not met anyone and was not planning on it. For all intents and purposes she was a sinlge mother of a year old child, that was hardly the perfect time to be out on the hunt for a new romance. It did not change the fact that at some point either of them could meet someone and that it could end up more devasting for her. If Jack were to start a relationship and it became serious, would he ask Sam and Daniella to leave so that he could move in his new partner? Would the new girlfriend be okay with his closeness to Sam? Would any potential new boyfriend be okay with Sam living and working with Jack? None of these questions had occurred to her when Jack had insisted they all move in together.

Sam had also come to the realisation that she was spending more and more time confused as to the lines between her and Jack, what their relationship was and how she should be feeling. If she was confused then it was only fair to say that as Daniella grew up, she would become confused and that was not what Sam wanted. Their living together as a family was supposed to have made things easier and allowed them all to be a family, not confuse each of them on a recurrent basis. As Sam made her way further into her own house, the many questions she worried over refilling her mind and pushing out the peace, she could not help but hope that Jack was at work, on a mission or simply out and that she could have one more evening of being alone with her thoughts.

As if on cue as Sam passed by the telephone, it rang and she immediately picked it up. "Hello?"

"Sam, it's me." She could recognise Daniel's voice anywhere.

"Hey, Daniel, I just got in. What's up?"

"There's been a bit of an incident here. At work."

Panic filled her body, turning her blood ice cold. "Incident? What kind of incident?" A quiet voice in the back of her mind reassured her that he had said at work, Daniella should be upstairs playing with her toys. Despite the panic, there was an element of relief.

"Jack's missing. Something happened yesterday morning. I think you should get over here."

Sam was vaguely aware of mumbling an affirmation before she hung up the phone and headed back to the front door, pausing briefly to check that her daughter and Sasha were in fact in the house and fine. She quickly informed Sasha that she had to pop out again, but she would be in touch and then she headed straight for the base, desperate for more information.

**Next Chapter – Episode 6.15 Paradise Lost**

_This was only a short one, because it's a filler between the two episodes as the Sam/Jack arc runs straight across. I thought it would be nice to show Daniella's birthday, but given the tension between her parents and the issues Sam's been starting to have, it couldn't be too much of a family affair. I've got plans for the next two episodes and, hopefully, I'll have some more scenes involving the background characters._


	15. 615 Paradise Lost

**Category**: Sam and Jack romance/angst, Team/family angst

**Spoilers: **Directly for 6.15, general up until then.

**Content Warnings:** Angst, tension.

**Summary: **Things are still tense between Sam and Jack after she discovered he had been lying to her, but that all changes when a certain Harry Maybourne gets involved with ideas of alien weapons.

**Episode – 6.15 Paradise Lost**

Anxiously, Sam paced backwards and forwards behind the pilot's chair on the Tok'ra ship as they neared the moon of the planet Maybourne had led the other members of SG-1 to. As soon as she had received the full story from General Hammond, Sam had joined the other scientists on the planet in an attempt to discover where Colonel O'Neill had vanished to. From the beginning, Sam had been determined to find an answer, resorting to snapping at the other scientists when they tried to pack up and head back to Earth. It had been Daniel who had come to Sam's side and tried to make her see sense. He had told her that it had been days since she had slept properly, days since she had returned to Earth, seen her daughter, showered and eaten a proper meal. He always had a calming ability on her and so she had decided to allow everyone to return home without resorting to pulling her gun on them. Jonas Quinn had smiled at her as they neared the Stargate, promising her that they would all continue working on it from base. She should have had faith in him, but due to her lack of sleep, Sam had started to lose faith in finding O'Neill. A night off, spent at home with Daniella and Janet for company, had made Sam feel a million times better and it was the next day that she spotted the image of sun and moon that was so obvious in retrospect. Relieved at believing she had uncovered the location of O'Neill and Maybourne, Sam had then had to wait patiently for the Tok'ra to arrive with a ship.

Patience had ceased to be a virtue of Sam's over the tiring and stressful days which had not all begun when O'Neill went missing, but were all due to him. For over a week, Sam had been angry, upset and disappointed in the man she lived with for lying about her and their child. Whilst she had continued to find it difficult to move past what he had done, Sam had found the new thoughts within her mind increasingly difficult to ignore. Her mind was filled with questions and thoughts as to what she was actually doing living with her commanding officer, if it was in fact to benefit their daughter, or if it could possibly be damaging all three of them more than they realised. Sam could not help but wonder if they were raising Daniella to be confused over her parental situation or what would happen should either of them meet someone else. The fear that the pair of them had been incredibly naïve troubled Sam greatly.

Of course all of those thoughts had fled from her mind upon hearing that O'Neill was missing. She had immediately ignored anything regarding their home life and worked simply on getting her commanding officer home. It had troubled her after the others had suggested quitting that her reaction could be questioned. Thankfully there had not been any other military personnel present and she considered those on the planet close enough that they at least could have sympathy for her predicament. No matter what improper feelings anyone could speculate on their being between Sam and her team-mate, it could not be denied that he was also her house-mate and father of their child. There was still no guarantee that he was alive and safe, which was why Sam was pacing along the floor as if trying to wear a groove through which she could fall straight to the moon.

"Scans show a breathable atmosphere," the Tok'ra pilot commented as his hands flew across the display.

"I concur," Teal'c said from the co-pilot's chair. "And sensors have registered two distinct life-signs."

"Can you land?" Sam heard herself asking. Her heart was thumping loudly in her ears that she was only acutely aware of her voice. As the ship landed, Sam did not hesitate as she headed straight to the cargo bay doors. Her senses were still with her enough so that Sam did check the immediate area before proceeding out of the ship. The years that she had spent as a member of SG-1 told her that even if there were no other detectable life-signs that did not mean that O'Neill and Maybourne were alone here and no matter what her emotional state, her military training never left her. Soon, Sam spotted one figure standing and another sitting or lying on the ground and it entered her mind that one of them could be injured. She was sure that she recognised O'Neill's outline and tried using that information to reassure herself that he was fine. As she approached she called over, "Colonel?"

He turned towards her and she could see the look of relief upon his face. "Took your time, Major!"

Ignoring his jest, Sam purposefully strode towards him and threw her arms around him in the fiercest hug she had ever given anyone before. He stumbled backwards slightly, clearly taken aback by her sudden movement, but he recovered and kept them both on their feet, hugging her back. Distantly aware of Teal'c and Daniel speaking with Maybourne, Sam allowed herself to stay in an embrace with her commanding officer, closing her eyes tight. The lines between their working relationship and family life were blurring again by her actions of hugging him especially as both were in uniform. All that she could think was that she had almost lost him. If she had not figured out the connection the planet had with its moon, or if they had not been able to find suitable sustenance on the moon, he would have been lost to her. Sam had come to realise that she could not lose him and that, for the time being, she was content in hiding behind her daughter to keep him close. "Don't do that to me again, Jack. Ever. Understand?" Her voice was a whisper in his ear and she felt him nod against her; his stubble scratching her slightly.

"I don't plan on it." He pulled away from her slightly and his eyes found hers. "It was nothing against you or Danni, you know that, right?"

Forcing herself to nod, Sam clenched her jaw tightly in an attempt to compose herself. She fully pulled away from him and managed a smile, fighting a rising urge to hold him again and destroy everything by kissing him. Turning to the others, Sam spoke, "Is he okay to be moved?"

"I'm fine, thank you, Major. I would like to request not to return to Earth, however."

"We can discuss it on the journey, Harry," O'Neill answered and Sam was glad as was not sure that her voice would hold out. She had an awful feeling that things were not going to get easier.

**Next Chapter – 6.16 Metamorphosis**

_Apologies to any of those who maybe wanted to _see_ Sam shout at the science team, or cry on Teal'c's shoulders, but they were in the episode and I wrote this to have a pairing to the _Prometheus_ hug!_


	16. 616 Metamorphosis

**Category**: Sam and Jack romance/angst, Team/family angst

**Spoilers:** Directly for 6.16 Metamorphosis.

**Content Warnings:** Angst, capture, mild torture.

**Summary:** After the Russian team bring back news of Nirti's whereabouts, SG-1 accompany them with the hope of capturing or killing Nirti. Nirti has other plans for SG-1.

**Episode – 6.16 Metamorphosis**

Jack was already deeply regretting this mission. Something had smelt wrong about it from the very second that Carpenter had paged him and General Hammond. With raised eyebrows, Carpenter had informed Jack that the Russian team had returned, with an alien in tow. It was one of the few things that Jack saw completely the same as Carpenter – the breaking of the well-placed rule regarding randomly bringing aliens home. It had become worse as Lieutenant Colonel Evanov had pointedly informed everyone present that his reasons for bringing Alebran to Earth was because of Nirti's escape under Jack's watch. It was something of which Jack did not need reminding. When General Hammond had insisted on SG-1 taking the Russian team as back up rather than SG-3, Jack knew that the day could not get any worse. Except now he was staring at a random ceiling, his muscles protesting at any movement. The last thing he remembered was lowering his weapon as Nirti held her Zat directly at Carter's head. It was the same action he would have done no matter who Nirti had held, especially considering that they needed Nirti. He could recognise the post-Zatted feeling anytime.

"Colonel?" Turning slightly, Jack saw Carter sitting on the other side of some bars and his thoughts of being in a cell of some-sort were confirmed.

Slowly sitting up, Jack then glanced around him and was thankful that he and Carter were actually in the same cell; bars separated their beds in an odd design. Teal'c and Daniel were in the next cell. There was no sign of Evanov. Jack hoped that meant he and the rest of the team guarding the Stargate were going to burst in and rescue them at some point soon. "Yeah, I'm okay. You?"

"Fine, sir."

Moving his eyes from her, he glanced over at the other members of his team. Teal'c nodded his head slightly and Daniel rested his head back against some railings as he spoke, "Sorry, Jack, Nirti used the rings and came out of nowhere."

"O'Neill, Eggar is telepathic and Wodan has the power of telekinesis."

"Brilliant. So she's making superheroes, is she?" The fact that Alebran had already died due to the DNA altering was not lost on Jack and he worried that he and the rest of his team would be next to join the team of _Avengers_ surrounding their cells. "Gonna try and save the universe." Jack stood up and walked around his cell, looking around at the other products of Nirti's experiments. "Hey, people, Nirti is not your God! We can help you. Anyone got any powers to help? Anyone? Anything? Adamantium claws?" There was no response and Jack was not surprised. There was movement from what was potentially the only way in and out of the larger room and all four members of SG-1 stood and approached the bars of their cells.

As Eggar and Wodan approached, a barely conscious Evanov being dragged by them, the cell doors opened upward. The thought flittered through Jack's mind that he should attempt to rush the aliens, but despite not having seen the full force of Wodan's telekinetic abilities, Jack did not think his chances in a fight would be very good. They dumped Evanov near Jack and Carter's feet; both immediately grabbed him and pulled him up onto Jack's bed. They then turned back to the aliens.

"You can read my mind?" Jack asked, hoping to make his intentions clear and Eggar nodded. "Then you know that we came here to help you."

"You did," Eggar confirmed. "But I saw further." There was a slight pause which Jack chose to not fill. "You will not hesitate to kill all of us to achieve your goal. And we will not let you kill Nirti. She is helping us."

"She is saving us," Wodan agreed.

"No, she isn't," Carter objected, stepping to Jack's side.

Eggar looked directly at Carter, considering her for a moment. "You are not as harsh as him. You would not kill us all to get to Nirti." Jack's eyes flickered to her and saw her nod. "But you would to save him." From the corner of his eye, Jack saw Carter look at the floor. There was possibly a slight flush creeping into her cheeks, but it was too dark to tell. Eggar looked back at Jack. "You would sacrifice everyone in this room, on this planet for your mission. Except her."

"We can help you," Carter said and Jack hoped it would take Eggar's attention away from his internal thoughts. Things had been getting easier between himself and Carter in their personal lives ever since his disastrous mission to P5X-777 with Maybourne. Their work relationship had never suffered, but at home there had been over two weeks of barely speaking and even the odd argument. If it were not such a problem, Jack would joked to himself that it was just like any other marriage; he and Carter were most definitely not married. He was fully aware that the feelings they had long ago left in _the room_ were growing and evolving. It had always been a possibility, a strong possibility, but Jack had long ago mastered burying his feelings. Apparently a telepath could unbury them.

"You will come with us," Wodan stated, pointing at Carter and moving a step backwards.

"Take me instead." Jack stepped forward, safe in the knowledge that he would have done the same for Daniel and perhaps Teal'c.

"Nirti has requested the female."

"Yeah? Well, I'm more fun." Jack stepped again, to go with them, but he felt himself stuck. It was as if there was an invisible wall wrapped around him, preventing any movement in any direction. He did not like it.

"You are worried for her?" Eggar questioned. "You fear for her and it pains you." The disfigured alien looked confused, unable to comprehend the meaning behind Jack's thoughts and feelings.

Carter stepped forward. "It's okay, sir. Maybe the protein marker will prevent her from altering my DNA." Reluctantly he nodded at her and he watched as she willingly followed the other aliens. She was sacrificing herself for the others as it was a fight none of them could win at the moment. Colonel Jack O'Neill may not be a scientist, but he knew that a protein marker in the blood was unconnected to a person's DNA.

**SG – SG – SG**

"Hey," he almost whispered. "You okay?" She felt him gently touch her shoulder and she nodded her response. "Let's get you up."

Sam allowed herself to be guided by O'Neill as he helped her onto her bed, not that she wanted to make any claims to it. Once they were both seated, she leant her head against his shoulder and closed her eyes again. The machine used by Nirti had caused her pain and she was still suffering from the after effects. After a short time, she felt the pain ease enough to be able to speak. "Colonel?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm scared." So far they had no idea of the alterations Nirti had made to people were all the same. There was always a chance that Sam was not going to suddenly become a pool of water, instead perhaps she was simply going to become horribly disfigured and be able to read people's minds. That would at least be useful at home when trying to figure out why on earth her daughter was crying. This was supposed to have been a simple mission – a few Jaffa and one Goa'uld. Things were far more complicated than that.

"Whatever Nirti's done to you, we'll find a way to reverse it and get you home." It was a promise that she knew O'Neill would die to try and hold.

"What if we can't reverse it?"

"We will." O'Neill's stubborn streak was sometimes a positive thing. "Unless Nirti gave you some amazing super-hero power. Then you can keep it and Dani will have the coolest mom ever."

Sam smiled despite the pain and fear, but then she sobered. "I miss her."

With his right hand, O'Neill stroked her cheek. "If I could bargain with Nirti right now to get you home, I'd give her anything she asked." She knew how deeply he meant his whispered plea. Unfortunately neither of them knew how long it would take for the process to fully start. They had no idea of the time frame between Alebran's initial alteration and his liquefying, however, Evanov had not taken long. He was gone before Sam had been returned by Nirti.

"Don't say that." Perhaps it was the fear that she was going to die soon, but Sam felt the lines blurring again.

"Why not? It's the truth." His voice was so quiet that Sam was not sure it was her imagination.

It might not make sense, but she needed to tell him what she thought. "It's not just Nirti. There's someone else here. I can sense them."

"In here or when you were with Nirti?" Sam opened her eyes at Jack's question and saw Teal'c stand on full alert.

"Everywhere." It was different to the presence of Nirti, but it did feel like that of a Goa'uld. There were only two Jaffa with Nirti, but Sam could feel a much stronger presence than that.

"O'Neill," Teal'c warned and the colonel manoeuvred Sam off of his shoulder to stand at Teal'c's side. Sam watched as a Jaffa entered the dingy block of cells. She did not recognise him as being one of Nirti's from the DNA machine.

"Tau'ri, the woman will come with me."

O'Neill stepped closer to the cell gate. "Take me instead."

"My master has asked for the female."

"Who is your master, maybe I can talk to them?" Sam watched as a Zat blast shot out from the Jaffa's location and O'Neill then fell to the ground. The Jaffa then shot another blast above the fallen O'Neill and Sam lost consciousness.

**SG – SG – SG**

When Sam awoke, she was in a different cell. She was lying on a cool, hard floor but it was not a dirt ground. From the small area of ceiling that she could see without moving, Sam would hazard a guess that she was on a Goa'uld mother ship. Forcing herself to sit up through the pain, she saw Colonel O'Neill lying unconscious near her. It came back to her now that after being removed from Nirti's cells, they had both been taken somewhere else where two Jaffa had then tortured them both. She had fallen unconscious before O'Neill had. So much time had passed, but she had not liquefied yet. She considered the fact that perhaps whoever had taken them from Nirti had also been able to fix her DNA.

"Oh, God!" O'Neill groaned, regaining consciousness. "Carter?" His throat sounded sore and his voice came out as a hoarse whisper.

"Colonel, you're awake." It made things sound as if she had been awake for ages. She watched as he struggled to sit up, grimacing in pain as he did so.

"You okay?"

"Yeah."

"Are you hurt?"

"Just a few scrapes and bruises. I don't think there are any internal injuries." A silence fell over them where Sam was not sure that she could hear anything at all, including any sounds of nature or the ship's engine. Then she asked him, "What happened after I passed out?"

"They tortured me a bit more and then I joined you in sleeping."

"They never asked me anything. I don't think that the Jaffa wanted any information from either of us." That made her torture seem somehow worse than any other previous because at least there was normally a point to a torture session.

"I've got no idea what they're up to. Do you think it could be Anubis?"

Sam had no idea what was going on. Someone had _rescued_ them from Nirti to torture them somewhere else, after solving her DNA alteration. "At least we haven't gone into hyper-speed at any point whilst we've been awake." She was sure that they were not in hyper-speed now either. Unless the cell in which they were imprisoned was sound and motion proof. There was not a hum of engines or any vibrations coming through the floor. That could mean that they were still on P3X-367 and could be rescued when the Russian team brought reinforcements, or it could simply be that they were transported to another planet whilst unconscious and other Stargate teams would never be able to find them. It was not impossible, Teal'c and General Hammond had located the rest of SG-1 when Hathor had captured them, but the galaxy seemed bigger now with more Goa'uld on the scene. No matter how hard her friends tried to find them, Sam had already lost track of time and could not remember how long it had been since she had last seen her daughter.

She missed her daughter. Then she lost control of her emotions, sobbing, "I want my daughter." Daniella was a few weeks over a year old, able to pull herself up and loved crawling randomly around their house. She had her own distinctive giggle and loved buttons and loose threads. Tears quickly filled her eyes and Sam did not try and stop them spilling over her eyelashes and stream down her cheeks. She wanted to hold her child.

Without realising it, Sam suddenly felt O'Neill's arms wrap around her, tightly holding her. "Carter, I already told you – we're gonna get home."

She took a small amount of comfort from his arms, aware that if she had been captured with any other military officer she would not have received any comfort. Sam would have forced herself to be stronger if she had been with anyone other than members of SG-1. Pulling away from him to look O'Neill in the eye, she said, "Don't you ever worry that we won't?"

Cupping her face and staring hard into her eyes, he answered, "We will get home. We will both see Dani again."

"Colonel-" she tried to object, but he stopped her.

"No, Carter, we will. And we'll go on with our lives. We're not ready to give up yet. Do I make myself clear?"

Despite all the good that her job did, despite how important she seemed to be in keeping Earth safe, Sam often felt quite selfish. She willingly went on missions where she could easily be kept away from her child for days on end, sometimes weeks, and risked never returning to her child. "What if I want to give up? What if I want our lives to change, to prevent this anymore and just be a family?" It might be her fear, her lack of sleep or all the recent weeks catching up to her, but at that moment Sam would give it all up to simply enjoy a life with Daniella and Jack.

Shaking his head, O'Neill refused, "You can't. I won't let you. I…" He removed his arms from around her and shifted slightly to lean against the wall next to Sam. "Your brain's too important to the SGC." Putting his arm around her, she shifted to rest her head against his chest in an act far more intimate than they would normally cross on a mission. "We'll get out of here, alright?" She nodded against his chest and soon found her eyes closing.

**SG – SG – SG**

The days began to blur and Sam tried her hardest to keep track of time, but it was difficult with no access to daylight. It was also unfortunate that neither of them had any field rations and the bowls of gruel and water were running out. Sam had tried using when the guards turned up as a means to assess the time, but they had not been in over twelve hours, or it could be over twenty-four hours. Luckily, O'Neill had advised them to ration out their gruel which had been fortuitous as the Jaffa guards had not been around in at least twelve hours. They had both scoured the wall of railings which separated them from their freedom, but there was no way of breaking out of them. For the time being they were both stuck with limited water and gruel. The only real benefit that Sam could take from the whole few days was that she had not disintegrated or come apart at the seams. O'Neill had joked that perhaps Nirti had managed something else with her, but she had not been able to move anything with her mind, see through objects, read minds or turn invisible. Sam was sure that O'Neill had actually seemed disappointed. They had no idea why the Jaffa had abandoned them, or even what Goa'uld had abducted them from Nirti's prison as all of the Jaffa had their emblems removed. It was highly possible that they were on a completely different planet and that no one knew where they were at all.

She could not deny that she was still concerned over their predicament, however, Sam had calmed down from the high emotional state she had been in. Her thoughts were still jumbled with regards to her daughter and working, but they had decreased back to what they were on a normal daily basis. It had all become more difficult since she had her daughter as a large portion of her thoughts consisted of worrying over her daughter growing up alone. Sam had first-hand experience of growing up with a parent in the Air Force and after her mother had died, Sam had felt very alone during her teen years. Daniella had two parents in the Air Force, but she also had two parents who were half of the most elite team within the SGC. At the moment, Sam was still putting her job first, but she knew that at some point she would put her daughter above the universe.

"Another day…" O'Neill mumbled, the boredom clearly evident in his tone.

"Maybe today will be the day, sir."

"Let's hope so, Major Glass Half Full." She grinned and he allowed a small smile to flitter across his face. They then returned to silence which was how they had spent most of their current imprisonment. When there was a noise from down the corridor, Sam glanced at her watch again and realised that less than an hour had passed since their brief conversation. It had seemed far longer than an hour. They looked at each other as the banging noise continued and they each got to their feet; O'Neill's knees caused him to be slower than her. Attempting to peer through the railings, they both stood trying to quieten their breathing so to make out the noises clearer. After a few minutes of banging, it stopped and was replaced by what could be footsteps.

At the same time both of them began shouting at whoever it was. They were already trapped so no matter who was approaching them it served nothing to be quiet; there was always the hope that it was the rest of SG-1 coming for them. "We're down here!"

"Sam? Jack?" It was Daniel's voice and Sam closed her eyes, breathing out slowly as she realised they were safe.

"Danny, we're down here. In a cell." Sam rested her forehead against the bars and felt O'Neill's hand on her back, comfortingly stroking it a few times. "Told you they'd come for us." His voice was quieter when he spoke to her and there was something less authoritative in his tone. She dare not risk glancing at him, instead she simply stood there allowing the relief to flood her.

"Yes, sir." It was only a few minutes before Sam looked up into the happy faces of Daniel and Teal'c.

"Am I glad to see you guys!"

"Me, too," Sam agreed.

"Stand back," Teal'c warned and once they were all clear of the bars, he fired his staff weapon at the bars and once the smoke cleared O'Neill and Sam stepped through the hole; O'Neill gesturing for Sam to go first. Once they were all out in the corridor of the facility in which they had been held, Daniel indicated which way they needed to head.

"So where are we then?" Sam asked as she took the weapon Daniel held out to her.

"Another abandoned fortress."

"On the same planet?" she asked, thinking that it was incredibly big coincidence if they were.

"No, actually. We had to do a bit of investigating, but Nicola found the intel about where you were being held."

"What happened with Nirti?" O'Neill asked, pausing at the door at the end of the corridor.

"Daniel Jackson was very persuasive with regards to Eggar and Wodan."

Blushing slightly, Daniel explained, "They had no idea where you two had gone and Eggar immediately realised that my panic with regards to you was completely genuine. He'd seen your concern for Daniella as well, and from there it wasn't that difficult to make him take a chance on us. I convinced him to look into Nirti's mind. He refused, but he questioned her on your whereabouts and she was angry that you'd both gone. I argued with him that if she really were a God then she would know. He looked in her mind, Wodan killed her and then they started fixing their people."

"Neither they nor Nirti's mind held any information on your location."

"So we headed back to Earth, got reinforcements and started trying to find out where you could be. We went to a Tok'ra operative and Nicola managed to sweet-talk a Jaffa into giving up some information. Tracked you both down to here."

As they stepped into the daylight, Sam blinked rapidly at the strange bright light. "Where is Carpenter?"

Daniel looked concerned. "She should be here, she was just scouting the area."

"You're both okay," Carpenter said and everyone turned as she approached from behind them all. "There's no sign of the second Goa'uld. I found a few dead Jaffa, but no signs of life at all. The coast's completely clear."

"Let's head home, shall we?" O'Neill asked, allowing Teal'c to lead the way.

"By the way, Sam," Daniel began, "I'm pleased you're still alive, but how come you aren't a puddle?"

"I have no idea." Whilst she was glad that she was still alive, Sam could not deny that she was worried as to _how_ she was still alive or if there was something else altered within her.

"We'll get Doc Fraiser to check you over and, then, some much needed down time. I, for one," O'Neill said, "could murder a juicy steak."

Smiling, Sam nodded and tried to put her concerns to the back of her mind.

**Next Chapter – 6.17 Disclosure**

_So the middle two sections are re-writes of excerpts from More than Hopeless, which chronologically happens after this WIP. This chapter does tie into that story, but you don't need to read it yet if you don't want to! This is probably a bad thing to admit, but I have no idea what's going on in the next few chapters, but I'll try not to leave it too long._


	17. 617 Disclosure

**Category**: Sam and Jack romance/angst, Team/family angst

**Spoilers:** Directly for 6.17 Disclosure.

**Content Warnings:** None

**Summary:** General Hammond has his meeting with other Nations from Earth at the Pentagon and Major Carter is working with the Asgard to install new shield technology to the _Prometheus_, leaving Jack at home alone with his daughter.

**Episode – 6.17 Disclosure**

He could not help but smile as he watched his daughter giggling insanely from his position on a bench in the park. With Sam away with work for at least four days, Jack had requested that SG-1 be on stand down for purely selfish reasons. Due to his work, Jack rarely ever got any time alone with his daughter and he found himself frequently using the odd couple of days leave to spend with his son who he still had not introduced to his daughter. Laira was still not happy at being lied to, or mislead as Jack had kept trying to correct her, but she was at least allowing him to still see his son. There was not much more that Jack could ask for with regards to Jack-Junior. General Hammond had agreed to SG-1's downtime and that was how Jack found himself sitting in a park on a surprisingly warm November afternoon. Sam had only been gone for one day and Jack could not deny how much he loved spending the time alone with his daughter. He had even gone so far as to almost frog-march Sasha away on her own holiday, leaving him completely alone with Daniella. Sam had been worried, but he had reassured her that he knew Janet's number, he also had Daniel and Teal'c on speed-dial and he wanted to see if he could do it.

So far, so good as nothing had gone wrong. Thankfully, Daniella was actually quite used to spending days with neither parent and then days without Sasha so she was actually quite well adjusted for a fourteen-month old. It worried him that she could adapt so well as it was not necessarily normal for her age. Then he would remind himself that she was the daughter of himself and Sam; there was no way that Daniella was ever going to be _normal_ and was always going to be adaptable – just as neither of her parents were _normal_ and both could adjust and adapt to most situations. Jack could not deny that it had all been plain sailing in the day he had been a single parent; Daniella had not wanted to eat her dinner and had screamed when he had tried to bathe her. He had calmed her though, as any father should be able to. It was only when with her that he could truly forget everything bad in the universe.

Jack had also jumped at the chance to go to the park with his daughter, with Cassie in tow. He knew that Cassie did not get to see Daniella very often, nor did he get to see her and he wanted to spend more time with the teenager. Also aware of his physical limitations, Jack had thought it wise to take both girls to the park so that the seventeen year old could run around the climbing frame, slide and every other metallic danger with the toddler. There was no way that Jack was going to be climbing behind Daniella, although he would take over in a bit to push Daniella on the baby-swing; she loved swings. At the moment, however, she was in a cycle of climbing up a huge metallic rung ladder – with Cassie close behind – then walking along a _rope_ bridge and down a normal, small slide. In those few seconds that it took for her to descend the slide, her smile was huge and her giggle was so loud. Every time, Jack could not help but smile and laugh ever so slightly. Daniella had attempted the curly slide, shaped like a mini helter-skelter, but it had frightened her too much. As she had landed on the wood-chip floor, Daniella's mouth had opened, her eyes had screwed up and she had started wailing. Cassie had immediately helped her up and started to bring her toward Jack, who had known that his daughter just needed a hug. Within a few meters, Daniella's tears had completely dried and she had dragged Cassie back.

It helped that his daughter was so distracting. When Jack had gone to visit General Hammond to request some down-time, Hammond had more to say than just _yes_ or _no_. Even now, with Daniella distracting him, Jack could hear Hammond's words reverberating in his head.

"_Senator Kinsey is not happy with the situation, Jack."_

"_So what? That man's never happy, even though me and my team saved his damn life."_

"_Son, you have to understand the kind of pressure I'm under."_

"_Sir?"_

"_They'll use anything to close us down, to get us out of here – you, SG-1 and me. You are walking a fine line."_

"_Me?" And then it had dawned on Jack – he meant his personal relationship with Major Carter and their daughter, their living arrangement. "General, nothing has altered with SG-1. We have been nothing but professional all this time."_

"_I know that, but I'm getting more and more pressure. Not just from the NID and Kinsey anymore."_

"_What are you going to do, sir?"_

"_I should remove one of you from SG-1." Jack hated the idea of that. No one could deny that there was something unique and special about the original SG-1 and he could not believe that it would ever be replicated. He knew that when Carpenter was on the team, they were still good, but they were not the best. Daniel, Teal'c, Major Carter and himself, Colonel Jack O'Neill, were the best. "But," Hammond continued, "I don't think I need to make that step yet. What I am going to do, however, is cut Major Carter's SG-1 time. It's nothing against her record, her family or having done anything wrong and it will not affect her career. What with the X-303 project about to be fully live, she should be more concerned with that."_

"_Thank you, sir." The last thing that Jack wanted was for her career to be affected by the fact they had a child. He was not even sure that he would allow her to give up her career of her own choice for their family._

"_Don't thank me yet, Jack. There may well come the point when I have to transfer her to another team, especially if Major Carter does want more off-world time." After a long pause, Hammond spoke again; "And the minute either of you step out of line, Colonel!" It was a threat that the general did not need to finish and Jack nodded at him, standing up from his chair. "Dismissed."_

Jack was fully aware that Kinsey would use anything to try and get the Air Force out of Cheyenne Mountain and he could not deny that it did worry him that one day Kinsey would succeed. There had been plenty of occasions when SG-1 had either directly or indirectly almost ended the world, or worse. The SGC under Air Force control had suffered at least one foothold situation, almost allowed Earth to be sucked into a black hole, had multiple viruses or infections that could have endangered the entire human race, nearly been completely over-run by Replicators and got the planet trapped in a time loop lasting on the outside for at least three months. Although that one had been one of the more fun disasters, Jack had to admit.

Deep down, Jack knew that the General was right – something would change at some point. Jack spent most of his time trying to ignore that fact. A loud piercing scream dragged Jack's thoughts away from work and Sam, back to his gorgeous daughter. Her scream had been one of joy as she had gone down the helter-skelter slide on Cassie's lap. He smiled over at the pair of them.

"Very cute. Are they both yours or just the teenager?" Jack turned and saw a woman sitting down next to him on the bench.

"Just the toddler actually."

"Sorry, I didn't mean to assume anything." He saw the woman blush and he felt sorry for her. It was the most obvious conclusion to jump to and something he would have to get used to given his age.

"Don't be sorry. At least you didn't think I was some creepy old man here on my own." Although, now she probably thought that, Jack thought to himself as he rolled his eyes in annoyance with himself. After a short silence, he nodded his head toward the park. "How about you? I mean, which kid's yours?"

"Oh, I'm some creepy lady." He glanced at her and could see her grinning. He smiled back and she laughed slightly. "That's my three year old on the bigger climbing frame." Jack nodded in acknowledgement. "It gets easier when they get past two – they can play on their own whilst you sit there watching."

"You see, play-parks aren't my thing. Baseball, hockey – I'd be happy to play with her."

"What about your wife? I'm sure she'd like to visit the park with you both."

"Not married."

"I'm a single parent, too. It can be difficult."

"Oh, I'm not… It's not that simple."

"Tell me about it. Never is, is it?" she smiled again and Jack found himself smiling back although he was not sure why. "My name's Karen, by the way."

"Jack."

"Nice to meet you, Jack." She seemed to be about to say something else when a cry caught both of their attention. It was Karen's three year old son. "I better go see to him," she said and stood up before pausing and turning back. "This might seem really odd, perhaps incredibly forward, but I don't meet many single parents down here." Karen rummaged around in her bag and produced a small white business card. "My cell number, if you ever want to chat. Single parent to single parent." She turned around again and began walking off calling over to her son as she went.

Almost nervously, Jack fiddled with the small rectangular piece of card; twiddling it over and over as if it somehow held a spectacular secret. Glancing up slightly, Jack noticed Cassie and Daniella approaching so he quickly put Karen's card into his pocket and then noticed how the toddler was running to keep up with the teenager. "Hey, Jack," Cassie greeted. "Dani wants to go on the swings now and I figured it was your turn so I can have a rest." She seemed slightly out of breath.

"Come here, precious," he said, scooping Daniella up into his arms and she giggled even more. "Did you want to go on the swings?"

"Wing!"

"Okay then. You okay here with the stuff?" he asked Cassie.

"Uh-huh. Jack?" He paused for her. "Who was that woman?"

"That, she, uh, she's just another single parent. Don't forget there's a drink in there for you, if you want it." He vaguely heard Cassie mumble a thank you as he carried Daniella over to the swing. He was not sure why, but Jack felt guilty over a less than five minute conversation with another woman.

**Next Chapter – 6.18 Forsaken**

_I finally know exactly where I am going with this entire story! It came to me after watching Disclosure and it should be roughly seven more chapters. Although it may be about ten or eleven depending on how in depth some chapters have to be. But, woo, I know where I'm going with it!_


	18. 618 Forsaken

**Category**: Sam and Jack romance/angst, Team/family angst

**Spoilers: **Directly for 6.18 Forsaken

**Content Warnings:** None

**Summary:** After their mission to P2X-005, Sam is worrying about her flirtatious conversations with Corso, whilst Jack considers their relationship.

**Episode – 6.18 Forsaken**

Despite the hours that had passed, Sam could not shake her internal embarrassment. Nothing had been said to her about her actions on their most recent mission to P2X-005 and how she had handled things, but she still felt as if she had done something wrong. It was not really like her and she had to admit that she been slightly distracted. Typical really, Sam mused, as she had been allowed on the mission with SG-1 purely for her astrophysics background. Even with Jonas Quinn in tow, helping her try and fix the alien ship, Sam had still been caught off guard. Thankfully, even despite Corso's charming words, she had not been fully blinded by him and the moment she had been knocked over the head and tied up had nothing to do with him, but one of his _crew_. Glancing over at Jack slightly, Sam could not help but wonder if he thought she had made any errors in judgement during their mission. He had not said anything whilst still at work and she doubted that he now would at home. Nothing on his face revealed any shame at her actions.

Sighing deeply, Sam knew that it was all in her imagination and accepting a few flirtatious words from a man had not led to any of their problems off world. Something just was not sitting right with her, however.

"You okay?"

Sam looked at Jack again, smiling in reassurance. "Yeah, just, thinking." It was not just the thought that, as her colonel, he could think less of her, but also as Jack. Was he aware of the mild flirtation? It was harmless; would have been even if the criminals had been telling the truth. They held such an odd relationship that Sam was not sure if she had done wrong by it. In an attempt to take her mind off of her complicated thoughts, Sam glanced at her watch. "Time for someone's bath, I think." Sitting forward on the easy-chair, Sam smiled down at Daniella and held her hands out. "Come on then, Dani, bath time." Being so used to bathing Daniella with no one else at home, Sam was well practiced with the logistics of keeping Daniella amused and safe whilst trying to prepare a bath, find night time clothes, cream and new diapers. Now at the stage where she was able to crawl at an incredible speed, Sam waited the few brief moments before Daniella made it to her feet and then sat by watching carefully as the toddler pulled herself up to a standing position. "Good girl," Sam congratulated before picking her up and then standing up just as Jack copied her.

Looking at him curiously, Jack answered her eyes. "Thought I could help?"

"Sure, thanks." Ever since Jack had admitted to her that he did not always necessarily know what to do with their child, both of them had worked a lot harder at trying to be involved when they were able to. Sam knew that she had it easier because she did not go off-world as often as he did anymore. She was not about to give up what precious time she had with her daughter no matter how much she loved her job. Whenever she was needed, she stepped up to the plate and performed her duty, however it was no longer the most important thing in her life; Daniella was.

A short while later, Jack was sitting next to the bath tub and peering over the edge to where Daniella was happily playing with little yellow rubber duckies, pink dolphins and inflatable green frogs as Sam re-entered the room. Kneeling down next to him, Sam made sure that her sleeves were rolled up and then put her hands in the warm water. Whilst Jack had started the bathing, Sam had got together everything they could possibly need after Daniella got out and inevitably got the entire room soaking wet. "Is she trying to drink the water again?"

Jack nodded, splashing Daniella and causing her to giggle loudly. Their daughter now had four teeth in total; two on the bottom and two on the top - all of them at the front. It made for a very toothy grin now. "Yeah, and just chewing on all the soft toys." She concentrated on trying to wash the toddler as Jack continued splashing and playing. "I'm sure it's harmless. I have vague memories of Charlie doing that."

Sam nodded, trying to not let the fact that he rarely mentioned his first child affect her ability to wash Daniella. The child squirmed away a bit, sliding down the bath and closer to Jack, out of Sam's reach and she smiled at her daughter's cheekiness. Daniella then proceeded to put her hands high up on the side of the bath and start to try and stand up. At a little over a year old, Daniella was confident enough at pulling herself up to stand on normal flooring and could manage to seat herself back down. It was a different matter on the slippery enamel of the bathtub, however, and Sam worried whenever Daniella attempted it. Immediately, Sam wanted to reach over and put her hands ready for if Daniella fell or slipped. Unfortunately, Jack was sitting in the way and he seemed a lot more laid back over his daughter's attempts to stand. Daniella was described as a toddler for a reason - she toddled. Whilst she could pull herself up to stand and then sit back down again, there was always a shaky element to it. Jack, however, did not seem to think there was a potential danger as he leaned forward to half hide behind the side of the bath and grin at his daughter who was slowly reaching his eye level. As soon as she was up, Daniella used both hands to steady herself on the white enamel and she laughed at her father's attempt to play peek-a-boo. Very slowly, Daniella then began to lean forward with her head as she angled her forehead towards Jack. As their foreheads touched, Daniella then took one hand off of the bathtub and placed it on her father's cheek. After pulling back slightly, Daniella's wet hand moved to Jack's forehead as she continued to apparently pat him on the face.

Her worries of Daniella falling over were lost in that moment as the child did her version of kissing - her leaning head was how she cuddled and kissed others at the moment and it made Sam smile. With a splash, Daniella thudded back down and hit her arms up and down repeatedly, showering everywhere with water. "Thanks, Dani," Jack smiled. He glanced at Sam. "Mummy and Daddy are soaking wet now." Daniella giggled and splashed some more, drawing Jack's attention back to her. Sam's gaze was fixed on Jack and she felt that odd feeling again.

**SG – SG – SG**

Jack leant backwards, leaning on his straightened arms as he watched Sam pick Dani up out of the bath-tub. Bathing his daughter was not the easiest of tasks for Jack; his damaged knees protested at more and more these days. He knew that he could do it should he need to and if he was alone with Dani, but with someone else present, Jack preferred to sit back with less interaction rather than kneel up and perhaps play with her a bit more. There was also the fact that the tiled floor was hard on his ageing kneecaps. After towelling off Dani, Sam stood up with the toddler in her arms.

"I'll go and get her dressed for bed. Did you want to read her a bedtime story?"

Nodding in an overly enthusiastic manner partly because Dani was watching him and smiling, Jack smiled at both of them and then watched them as they left the room. The few minutes afforded him the time to reflect on his most recent mission. Sam was supposed to be on fewer SG-1 missions, however, due to the astronomical nature of the mission she had been assigned by General Hammond. After the discovery of the Severus and the ship's damage, Sam had returned with Daniel and Reynard to Earth before returning with Jonas Quinn to help fix the ship. In the short time before Jack had headed out on the planet to find who he thought was an enemy, it had not passed his attention that Corso kept looking at Sam. He had never put her in the _Captain Kirk_ bracket before, but there had been something about Corso. It had still surprised him when, as they had all approached the Stargate, he had overheard Sam and Jonas discussing her apparent flirting with the alien.

There had not been time since for Jack to consider this. It had been she who had mentioned previously about either of them moving on. Before her words on the matter, it had never occurred to Jack as he had no intention of altering his life. He had no idea what was going on with his relationship with Sam or where it could possibly go one day, but he had been happy to wait and see. Something worried him now. Carefully standing up, Jack popped into his own bedroom, moving towards the bedside cabinet. He looked at the pile of random papers, usually receipts, next to the lamp and then rummaged through it to find the small piece of card he had received a few weeks ago in the play-park. He had never intended on calling the woman, but as he stood there staring at the digits Jack's intentions were changing.

"Jack," Sam called across the house, "Dani's ready." Pocketing the card, Jack made his way to Dani's room focussing on what stories he would read her.

**Next Chapter – 6.19 Changeling**

_This chapter was difficult to write. Sorry if that's why things have been taking a while to be finished. I wanted a chapter that keeps them grounded with their child, but that also involves the episode and propels the plot going along._


	19. 619 The Changeling

**Category**: Sam and Jack romance/angst, Team/family angst

**Spoilers: **Directly for 6.19 Changeling

**Content Warnings:** None.

**Summary:** With Teal'c and Bra'tac seriously ill, SG-1 needs to call for Jacob's help. The only problem with that is, Jacob does not yet know that Jack is Daniella's father.

**Episode – 6.19 Changeling**

"Carter?" Sam turned around at the call of her name and saw Colonel O'Neill standing in the slightly open doorway, peering into the changing rooms.

"Colonel?" she questioned, blushing as he entered the room and closed the door behind him. SG-1 had just returned from their mission where they had rescued the near-dead Teal'c and Bra'tac and Sam had taken the opportunity to grab a quick shower before trying to check in with Janet. Repositioning herself, Sam attempted to hide her bare legs behind her open locker door, but she knew that it probably did not hide them much. Thankful that she was wearing a decent sized towel, she continued looking at him questioningly. "Sir, I'm just in the middle of getting dressed."

"Yeah, sorry, Carter." She could have sworn that she could see a very slight smirk forming on his lips and it made her angry in the way that she wanted to playfully slap him for being so childlike. Reminding herself that there had been many occasions where the two of them had seen the other in the process of getting changed whilst on a mission, or similarly dressed only in a towel at home, Sam knew that he had seen her bare legs and shoulders many times before. "It won't take long."

"What won't take long?" Trying not to notice the slight chill in the air, Sam was eager to finish getting dressed so that she could find out how Teal'c and Bra'tac were going to be. They had both been so close to death and the radical notion of sharing the symbiote may have been genius, but no one knew if it would have any long lasting repercussions.

"So, we called the Tok'ra to come help out the T and Bra'tac thingy, right?"

"Right."

"And they said they're sending Jacob."

"Yep." If she had her wristwatch on, Sam would look at it impatiently to try and hint to the colonel to speed up. "Sir, we're in a bit of a life or death situation here. Can't this wait?" Not that she had any idea what *this* was.

"I know, and they're both my first priority, it's just that, well." He paused and she looked at him impatiently as she could feel the goose bumps starting on her shoulders. "You haven't told your dad yet. About Dani and me."

Her jaw dropped in the shock that it had actually slipped her mind. In the past six months since she and Jack had moved in together to raise their daughter, she had not even seen her father. Whenever the Tok'ra had bumped into SG-1 or been called in to help, she had never been on the team and he had not been home to visit since before that point. Then Sam felt a school-girl panic flood her body and her sweat glands went into overdrive. Her father was on his way and she was going to have to tell him the truth. Clenching her hand around the top of her towel in a move to stop it from shaking, Sam's mouth went bone dry.

"Carter?"

"Yeah." Looking up at him, the colonel was still standing near the door probably in an attempt to prevent anyone entering because they were alone in the locker room and she was essentially naked. That did not look good. She shook her head sharply, knocking her brain awake. "Okay, look, Teal'c and Bra'tac are the important ones here and Dad'll probably be on a flying visit. I say this isn't the time to tell him."

O'Neill let out a breath and Sam saw him visibly relax slightly against the door. "Oh, thank God. I don't want to be on this planet when you do eventually tell him."

"Gee, thanks. May I get dressed now?"

"Just one more problem." She looked at him as if to say *yeah, what?* "What's stopping someone else from telling him?"

**SG – SG - SG**

With a heavy sigh, Jack shifted in his seat, wondering impatiently how long it would take for Teal'c to wake up so that he could do something other than sit and wait. It was no slight on his friend's health just simply that he hated having nothing to do. It was taking all of his willpower to not start fiddling with random things as Jack had no idea what damage he could cause accidentally. The downside to not having anything to do or fiddle with, meant that Jack's brain was left to simply process thoughts and come up with wonderful new thoughts no matter how random. Like the fact that he was glad that Jacob had gone home with no hiccups from any base staff and that Sam seemed no worse for her lying to him. Jacob's parting words in the 'gate room had been that he would try and get some time off to visit her and Daniella. Jack could not deny that it troubled him. He was incredibly anxious of the point in time where Jacob Carter learnt that his grand-daughter was in fact Jack O'Neill's child. That was not going to be a pleasant experience. Then, randomly, the woman from the park popped into Jack's mind and his brow furrowed. A week ago, he had contacted her about meeting up for a drink or a play-date in the park with Daniella and Karen's son. He had needed to cancel at the last minute due to the disappearance of Teal'c and Bra'tac during their Rebel Jaffa meeting, leaving Jack now with a new decision as to whether or not contact her again.

Part of him argued that he had only contacted her originally as friends, despite the element of only doing it after hearing that Sam was happily flirting with an alien named Corso. It had not been fully out of spite or the desire for female companionship. Far from it, Jack was used to having little if at all any female companionship, and at any rate, he still had to deal with living with two adult females and his daughter who would one day become a dreaded teenager. If he wanted a friend who understood the elements of being a single parent, Jack reasoned that he should be allowed one. Just because she was female should have no bearing on the matter whatsoever. There was also a part of him that considered discussing his whole non-relationship with Karen, because there was no way that he could speak with any of his current friends. The people with whom Jack normally socialised were either true friends who knew Sam, random acquaintances who he barely said anything more than "Hello" to, or people who also happened to work within the military which therefore ruled out everyone for him to discuss Samantha Carter with. They were all pretty much a no go area for Jack to attempt to figure out what on earth was best for his daughter and what was going on with Sam. He could not deny that their living together had both its own benefits and disadvantages.

On a daily basis, Jack would wonder if they were doing the best thing for their daughter, but then he would be brutally reminded of how their jobs or simple working patterns would make life far too difficult if they were to live separately. With his ex-wife and their son, Jack had missed out on so much simply because of his job and he was not about to let that happen again with the added complication of not living with his child. It was already evident with Jack-Junior that they would never have a strong enough relationship because they lived on different planets. At least with Daniella it was not quite that extreme.

There was no denying that it had rankled with him that Sam had been flirting with someone else. Jack was not the overtly jealous type, however, something about her moving on did not sit right with him. At the end of the day, though, they still had their careers in between them and the decisions to always do what was best for Daniella. With no concrete proof of a romantic relationship working between them, Jack was not yet willing to risk his daughter's happiness. It was true that Sam and he had a good working relationship whereby no matter what ever really happened, she always respected and followed his command decisions and he would always listen to her objections or concerns. It had not taken them long to become a co-operative pair at home, he had never once given her an order. Jack strongly believed that the day he did would be the day Samantha Carter first ever slapped a commanding officer. Smiling at the thought, Jack felt his thoughts becoming murkier and more tangled with confusion.

"O'Neill?" Jack looked across at his Jaffa friend and smiled reassuringly at him.

"T, you're awake."

"Indeed." At this, Jack grinned. Teal'c looked down slightly and allowed confusion to cloud his usually stoic face. "My symbiote?" Jack was unsure he had ever heard such levels of panic from Teal'c as he had the past few days with regards to Bra'tac and his own symbiote.

"It's okay, but, uh, Junior's gone."

"Without my symbiote, how is it 'okay', O'Neill?"

"We've got you and Bra'tac on a form of Tritonin."

"Bra," Teal'c whispered and it was Jack's turn to look confused as he had never heard Teal'c refer to the Jaffa Master as that before. "I suffered from hallucinations, O'Neill."

"Like what?"

"I was a Tau'ri fire-fighter and all of SG-1 were there. Shau'nauc..." Teal'c said nothing further and Jack knew that it must be greatly affecting his friend.

"Probably a coping mechanism."

"Indeed. The hallucinatory DanielJackson concurred."

"What were we all like?"

"There were not many differences."

"But, Shaun'auc."

Teal'c looked away. "She was my Tau'ri Wife and Master Bra'tac was my 'step-father'. You, O'Neill were the chief fire-fighter." He paused for a long moment and Jack chose not to break the silence. "O'Neill, it is not often that I find myself as close to death as I now have."

Nodding, Jack responded, "It's a scary thing."

"Indeed." He fixed Jack's eyes with a stare. "One battle and I am now forever different. My life must now be lived as less of a Jaffa Warrior." A hand moved towards his Symbiote pouch which would more than likely forever be empty. "Life is not for putting off, O'Neill. Your life can alter at any insignificant point."

Considering his friend's words, Jack felt as if his previous tangled thoughts had been read by the Jaffa and he had only one answer to give his friend: "Indeed."

**Next Chapter – 6.20 Memento**

_I actually enjoyed this chapter. I know that probably sounds awful, but I've struggled with the past few! This one, I felt, propelled my plot along a bit more and didn't feel as forced into the episode. That's been the biggest challenge so far with these chapters – fitting in with episodes and sometimes having to shoe-horn my plot into the canon! Not sure yet about upcoming Memento!_


	20. 619B Christmas

**Category**: Sam and Jack romance/angst

**Spoilers:** None.

**Content Warnings: **Things might get a bit heated. PG13 territory only.

**Summary:** It's Christmas time for the O'Neill/Carter family and Sam wants to visit her brother, Mark. Jack then feels rather put out as it is his first Christmas with his daughter.

**Episode – None!**

Feeling quite nervous, Sam sat down awkwardly on the opposite end of the couch to Jack and she began fidgeting with her hands. He was trying to watch a documentary about black holes and normally it would be something she would enjoy watching with him. Tonight her gut was churning too much for her to enjoy anything.

"Spill it, Sam, what's up?" His eyes were still on the television and Sam smiled slightly at his talent for knowing her so well that he did not even need to take his attention away from anything else. She could not find the words. Turning, he looked at her, meeting her eyes and making it clear that she now held his attention. Daniella was fast asleep upstairs and Sam knew that this was the best time to speak to him.

"It's about Christmas."

"I'm pretty happy that Hammond's letting us all have the week or two off. Excepting any major crises of course. I know Dani's already had a Christmas, but she can't remember it and this year she gets to spend it with both of us and Daniel and Teal'c. It's going to be amazing." Sam could not help it when her face dropped. She should have known that Christmas would be a big deal to him; Jack was just a big kid at heart. Now she was going to have to break this piece of news to him, yet she had no idea of what words to use. "What is it?"

Forcing herself to meet his eyes, Sam took a deep breath and made herself start. "Mark and his kids visited me last year and I promised that I'd visit them this year. For Christmas."

He nodded slowly, taking in the full extent of her words. "When are you heading down there?"

"The day before Christmas Eve."

"Right." He nodded again and he sounded seriously annoyed and angry. Sam could not blame him. She knew that it was a decision that they should have made together, but she had promised her brother and Mark said that his children were so excited about seeing their cousin again that she could not bring herself to refuse him. Instead, she had chosen to upset Jack. Leaning forward, Jack leant his elbows against his knees and placed his chin in his hands. "I wish you'd discussed this with me. I mean, I am her father, for crying out loud. Didn't it occur to you that I've been looking forward to it? So have Daniel and Teal'c. You could have mentioned something earlier. We're supposed to be a partnership."

"We are. I'm sorry about Daniel and Teal'c, but they'll understand."

"I'm glad they will, but what the hell about me?"

"Whoa, Jack, wait a second." He glanced at her from his resting forward position and she could see the struggle on his face to not completely lose his cool. She sometimes wondered if Sara was ever able to fully cope with him because if he was not acting on the side of childish, he could have an awful temper. Sam counted herself lucky that she was used to it after their numerous years of working together and that the same skills she had learnt at work for coping with Colonel O'Neill also worked for coping with Jack. "I think I got my words muddled." He threw her a look and she shook her head. "I know, it's not exactly normal for me, but please. I've spoken to Mark and he is more than happy for you to come with us. To be honest, I don't fancy the flight to San Diego alone with Daniella."

"So the only changes to my plans are no Teal'c, no Daniel and a good day's worth of travelling?" She nodded. "Well, what's to say no to. It'd be nice to meet Mark. He has two kids, right?"

"Yes, David and Lisa. David is the perfect age for playing hockey with."

Finally relaxing, Jack leaned back on the couch. "If Lisa's anything like a Carter, so'll she be." Her nerves had lifted, too and Sam found herself also able to sit back comfortably.

"There is one little problem though," Sam added almost as an afterthought. She stole a quick sideways glance at Jack and he had resumed watching the television, grunting in acknowledgment of her statement. "Well, they only have one spare bedroom. Mark said that he can force David and Lisa into the one room with or without Daniella, but then one of us would have to sleep in a kid's bed. Or," she glanced again to gauge his reaction, "we can share the spare room."

"What's the problem with that?"

"Only one bed."

**SG – SG – SG**

Walking up to the stranger's refrigerator, Jack opened the door and scouted around for something to eat or drink. It had been a long day of travelling and Sam had already gone to bed after putting Daniella to sleep in Lisa's bedroom. Glancing into the room he would be sharing with Sam for a few nights, Jack had noted that there was a large double bed and a sofa that was probably just about long enough for him to fit on. It would not be comfortable after three nights, Jack had already realised that. Deciding that there was nothing that he wanted to eat or drink, Jack pushed the door closed again and then realised that Mark was standing a few feet away, behind the open door.

"Hey," Jack greeted, feeling somewhat uncomfortable. He had never met the older brother before and he found it highly odd to have only just met him and yet be staying in his house, sharing a room with his younger sister no less.

"Sam told me a few months ago about the whole Daniella and you thing." Nodding silently, Jack sensed that this was one of those conversations where he should just allow Mark to speak. "At first I couldn't decide if it was better that my little sister had got pregnant from a one night stand or from breaking regulations."

"Which won?"

"I don't know much about you, Jack. I hate the idea of Sam being so drunk that she slept with a stranger, but she's a grown woman and I despise the fact that the Air Force rule her life and dictate who she can open her heart to."

"It's not that simple," Jack objected. Nothing was ever as simple as it being just the Air Force rules and he really did not want to think about her opening her heart.

"I don't understand it all and I don't particularly want to. All that I do really know is that, the military is important to Sam. It was important enough to join when I couldn't stand the thought." There was still a slight bitter element to his statement that Jack knew would not be healed with time. "Her life and career are important to her and I don't want to ever find out that you jeopardised that. Dad's mentioned you before."

"Good old dad."

"He thinks you're a dangerous, bitter, irreverent old colonel with a lack of respect for those your senior."

"He forgot sarcastic and cynical."

"Are you dangerous? Did you abuse your position to get Sam into this position?"

"No." Despite their lack of a relationship, Jack still wanted the approval of Sam's family for the hope that at some point in the future, if there was a chance, it would not pose an extra problem. "I won't lie. I've been dangerous, yes, but that's my job for you. I have never and will never put Sam into a position of being hurt and, not far behind my daughter, Sam's career is always at the forefront of my mind." It was from his training that Jack was so easily able to keep his work and personal lives so separate despite their similarities. It had helped since General Hammond had removed Sam from as many off-world duties.

"Only time will tell, I guess. I'll reserve judgement until I get to know you better."

No one could say fairer than that, Jack knew, but he did feel the need to remind or inform Mark of something. "Just don't say anything to your dad yet."

"Why not?"

"Well, it's kind of complicated in that he doesn't yet know." Faking a yawn, Jack then said, "Good night," as he walked past his host and made his way up to the spare bedroom. Quietly opening the door, Jack knew how Sam slept constantly on alert as he did, too, although she was capable of sleeping deeper when not off world. He was kind of glad that he had missed out on the early months of Daniella's screams and Sam's sleepless nights. It had only been in the last few months that he had stopped lying there listening to any little noise in their house and wanting to check on his daughter every few moments. Sam was asleep, snuggled up in the covers and facing the doorway. As he closed the door behind him, Jack made his way across the room because of the small lamp Sam had left on for him. Knowing it would be painful and that he would wake up stiff, Jack only had the option of sleeping on the small couch. Neither his knees nor his back would thank him come the morning and all Jack could promise his body in return was a heavy dose of Christmas spirit every evening after Daniella was asleep.

Quickly changing into some sweat pants and a loose t-shirt, Jack then threw a blanket on the couch before making a claim to the two pillows on the bed next to Sam's head. She stirred silently and he hoped that he had not woken her so he paused and made no further movement. Just as he was about to make a move to his couch, Sam rolled over and mumbled something. "Huh?" It was an automatic reply that escaped his mouth before his brain could process.

"I said, sleep here."

"What?"

"Are you dumb, Jack? Get into bed. That couch'll kill you. Now, turn off the damn light."

"Yes, ma'am." As he turned off the lamp, he saw her lips smile.

**SG – SG – SG**

"So, tell me the truth, sister dearest," Mark said with only a few slurring words. Both of them were more than a little bit tipsy, but then it was still the season and perfectly acceptable. "What is with you and Jack?"

"What do you mean?" She giggled as he gently prodded her and she failed to fall off her kitchen stool, much to his disappointment.

"You tell me that due to work, you're just living together to raise Dani. You tell me that it's forbidden and not allowed, you're just friends and then…"

"Then what?"

"Well," he said dramatically. "Well, then, my kids and yours walk in to find you in bed together. Just friends, huh?"

Sam could not help the blush that immediately coloured her cheeks brightly. She had been mortified when she had been awoken by Dani, David and Lisa. Daniella only ever climbed into her bed when Sasha had got her up and Sam was, for some reason, having a lie-in. The toddler never encountered her father on the other side of Sam, though. Through her hazy, sleep filled eyes, Sam had not missed how large Daniella's grin had been on seeing her daddy and then being able to clamber all over him. The down side was that Mark had happened to walk past the door whilst it was wide open, not that he would not have found out as David and Lisa had not been able to stop from shouting it through the house to their mother. "We're close friends. But friends only."

"Why? Because you don't feel that way about him?" Glancing over at him, Sam was relieved to find that Mark was keeping his own gaze on the glass of whiskey in front of him. They had never really ever had discussions about the opposite gender and despite their adult ages, Sam could imagine that this conversation was awkward for her brother.

"He's my commanding officer and friend. That's all."

"And that did not answer my question, Sammie."

"Don't call me that, Mark."

"Do you feel that way about him?"

After a long sip of her own drink, Sam attempted to answer him. "It doesn't matter if I do, because nothing can happen. For Daniella's sake as well as any other reason."

Mark shook his head and Sam knew that he still had a vein of hatred or displeasure concerning the military in general. "Don't give me the Daniella excuse and don't let the military rules dictate how you live your life." He stood up, swallowing the last of his whiskey and then kissed Sam on the top of her head. "I just want you to be happy."

"I am, Mark."

"Love you."

"Love you, too." Sam waited for a few moments after he left the kitchen and then she finished off her own drink before heading upstairs to the spare bedroom. Jack had gone to bed not long before she and Mark had begun their final drink of the evening and she was surprised to see him lying down with his eyes closed. There was no way that he could already be asleep. Colonel O'Neill never fell asleep instantly and that included off world when they could each only grab a few hours in turn. Since the first night, when the travelling had worn them both out, they had been sharing the double bed rather than forcing Jack onto the couch. They had slept closely together, side by side, many times during their career to the extent that they had used each other as a pillow of some sort on occasion. This was no different.

Turning off the light, Sam climbed into bed beside Jack and tried to make herself comfortable on her back. Perhaps it was the alcohol coursing through her system, or it was because nothing was clear cut anymore, but Sam knew that them sharing a bed was very different to normal.

"Have a good chat with Mark?"

Turning her head to the left, Sam could see the smallest reflection of light in his eyes. "Yeah. Are you glad that we came?"

"Aside from Mark having a big brother chat with me, yeah."

Turning onto her side and facing him, Sam said, "What? No!" Then she broke out in giggles. It was the thought of her brother, who could be the alpha male in certain circles, giving a big brother speech to Jack, alpha male in pretty much any circle.

"Shut up," he laughed, poking her in the ribs.

"I'm sorry, it's just that the image of Mark threatening you over me, it's the funniest thing I've heard all year." She tried to keep her voice low, but it was difficult enough to speak through her giggles without trying to control the volume. Playfully he pushed her in an attempt to quieten her, but it failed as Sam simply giggled even more. He shifted closer to her and put a hand over her mouth in an attempt to muffle her giggles. The increased proximity caused her to be able to smell him and she found her giggles suddenly halted. Across the short distance and through the dark, her eyes met his and his hand started to slowly move away. Shivering slightly as his hand gently touched her bare shoulder, Sam found herself liking the delicate way his fingers were slowly stroking her shoulder.

Her fingers twitched and brushed against his t-shirt clad chest causing her to purposefully move her hand the small amount needed to press her hand against his t-shirt. Through its thickness, she was still able to feel the heat from his skin and she soon found herself slowly caressing his chest at the same speed as he was stroking her shoulder. His fingers then started to trail up over the curve of her shoulder and along towards her neck. They brushed over a particularly sensitive spot and she smiled, pleased that he then smiled back at her. His fingertips moved along the length of her neck before moving backwards to her spine. The warmth of his hand spread across her neck as his entire hand gently covered her neck, the thumb resting on her cheek.

In response Sam's hand moved upwards along his chest, sensing the difference from the chest hair underneath his t-shirt. She continued moving her hand, seeking out the scruff of his neck and his hairline. It was as if her hand had a mind of its own as it sought out his hair, needing to run her fingers through the short lengths. His thumb was still stroking backwards and forwards on her cheek as she gently, but tightly, grabbed onto some of his hair. Simultaneously, they each moved forward and pulled the other closer until their lips were so close to touching. She could smell his minty toothpaste combined with the remnants of the whiskey he had been drinking and a scent that she could describe only as Jack. She had few memories of kissing him, of even being in such a situation with him, but from what she could remember, Jack's kisses were something to amaze.

Their lips brushed together, the faint touching feeling like an electric shock to Sam and she could not help but let out the smallest of moans. That seemed to be the only encouragement that Jack needed to crush his lips to hers and release her neck to run his hand down her back, pulling her entire body closer to his. Lifting her leg to place it over his, Sam could feel the sheet between their bodies; she had been sleeping on top of a sheet to keep a barrier between them. Her body seemed to mould to his as he then rolled her onto her back, crushing her beneath him. Sam had never felt so happy to have such a weight on her as they both deepened the kiss.

Until there was a loud bang of a door closing from beyond the closed door and Jack broke the kiss, both of them turning towards the door. Slowly, their heads then turned back to each other as if in a movie version of slow motion. From out of nowhere and for absolutely no reason, other than the alcohol in her bloodstream, Sam burst into a fit of giggles again. Jack nudged her cheek with his nose, laughing low in his throat as he whispered, "No giggling, Carter."

"Sorry, sir," she laughed until she realised what she had said. They both sobered in that moment and he rolled off of her, both lying on their backs and she simply stared at the ceiling feeling mortified.

"G'night, Carter." Sam's heart sank at his use of what she often saw as a harmless, affectionate nickname that right now felt almost like a slap across her face. She could not bring herself to respond; her voice could not be trusted.

**SG – SG – SG**

Closing the cab door once Sam was inside, Jack then turned to say goodbye to Mark and the kids. He ruffled David's hair and said, "Maybe next time you can beat me at hockey."

"Like I already can," Lisa grinned, earning herself a scowl from her brother. David pushed her before running off to the other side of the cab and Lisa stuck her tongue out before chasing after him.

Jack then turned to Mark. "Thanks for having us, and me. It's been a really good Christmas." It was true and he was not sure when he had last had a Christmas as fun as one with the Carters had been. He was not sure yet if that conclusion included his drunken antics with Sam or not. They had not discussed it, nor had they drunk anymore alcohol for the rest of the vacation. He could not say for definite if it was the alcohol or the build-up of the past 6 months, but he should have not allowed it to happen. It did not matter how much he wanted to kiss her and hold her, nor did it matter that those moments when he wanted to kiss her were increasing in their frequency. After all of their increased proximity, Jack was actually wary of their impending travelling and how she would be near to him the entire time. It was all that he could do to ignore the memories of her soft, fragrant skin, or her moist, luscious lips. It was her smell that affected Jack the most and until they got home, that was what he was going to have to suffer through the most.

"It was good to meet you, Jack. Oh, and just so you know," he leaned in to whisper conspiratorially. "You get my seal of approval with my little sister."

"We're just friends."

"Yeah, right. So you won't mind if I set her up with my friend Pete, then." Jack tried to not show any reaction, but he did not like that idea at all and relief flooded him as Mark grinned. "Safe journey, see you soon."

"Thanks. You guys will have to come visit us all in the New Year." Mark nodded before the two men shook hands as a manly way of saying goodbye. Jack felt odd; he felt as if he were leaving his own family.

**Next Chapter – 6.20 Memento**

_Added in here, because I decided this was when Christmas should be and I thought it should be a happy little Christmas. Did you like the Pete reference?_


	21. 620 Memento

**Category**: Sam and Jack romance/angst, Team/family angst

**Spoilers:** Direct for 6.20 Memento

**Content Warnings: **None

**Summary:** On its maiden voyage, the Prometheus' engines fail and this time Major Carter cannot save the day.

**Episode – 6.20 Memento**

"Are you sure that you can't fix this thing?" O'Neill asked for the tenth time that day. For the first few times, Sam had thought it was funny in the adorable way that he enjoyed annoying people, or had some level of faith in her that exceeded everyone else's and assumed that she would at some point create a solution. Unfortunately, this time, there was not going to be any magic solution.

"I'm pretty sure, sir."

"Pretty sure, so there is a possibility?"

"No. Colonel, I have explained this." Granted, she could now see the problem with not having any back up or spare parts for the reactor's buffer and wished that there was some other system they could hack apart just to fix the buffer. "For the tenth time, we are stuck here, there is no way of fixing the buffer."

"Keeping count, Carter?" His eyes were narrowed at her and she was glad that they were alone in a sub-section of the engine room. Due to the noise level of the engines, they were also in a sound-proof section. O'Neill had worn down her final nerve and Sam was on the verge of ignoring their chain of command.

"Yes, Colonel, I am. Seeing as it's the only thing I can do other than sit here and twiddle my thumbs."

"Twiddle away."

Something inside of her snapped. "Bite me." If she were asked then if she saw the infuriating man in front of her as Jack or Colonel O'Neill, Sam would not have an answer.

"You'll get bored of that quicker than twiddling your thumbs. And I might have to bite back." There was an amusement on his face and it confused Sam.

"Colonel, are you okay?" Her frustration was lost as she had to question why he was allowing her insubordination. General Hammond was still trying to use various different reasons as justification to allow Sam and O'Neill both on a mission of SG-1. The reason for their both being on-board the Prometheus was because of Sam's skills and the fact that she had helped build the ship. Not that any of her knowledge or expertise could help with their current problem.

"I don't know, are you?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. You're the one who has no problem with your second being as insubordinate as I just was."

"I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt."

"For what?" Some of the anger and frustration dissipated from her tone, replaced with a quieter, innocent look in her eyes.

"None of this is your fault, you know that, right?" She ignored him, knowing that whilst it may not be her fault, she was still incapable of solving the problems and getting them home. Normally, that kind of thing was like her middle name. "Carter?" he almost yelled.

"What?" she demanded in response. Her usual response would have been to answer 'yes, sir', but she was not in the mood today.

"Snap out of it."

"That an order?" Why was he not bringing her up on her comments? All that his calmness did was infuriate her more.

"No, I'm trying to be your friend right now." She bit her tongue, holding back the immediate comment that she wanted to make. Ever since their Christmas trip to Mark's, and their kiss, things had been a little strained between them at home although nothing at work had suffered. It was nothing like other tensions they had had since moving in together. This time it was simply an uncomfortable quiet that fell over a room whenever they were alone in it, with an immediate jumping apart if they found themselves standing too close or accidentally touching. In the few weeks since their awkward vacation, many cups of coffee had been spilt in the kitchen. The comment she wanted to make, in her awful mood, was highly inappropriate to say to her commanding officer and was connected to their Christmas kiss. "Before you say something that gets you into an awful lot of trouble, which is normally not a problem for you."

Instantly, Sam felt awful and shook her head. "I'm sorry, Colonel. I feel so helpless. It's normally me that saves the day, that can fix anything, even alien tech. I built the god-damn buffer, but I can't fix it."

"We'll find a way out of this, we always do."

"This isn't that simple, sir, and you know that. And it doesn't change the fact that I'm helpless here."

"You're keeping me sane, aren't you?"

"Only because with me losing it, you can't, too." They both smiled and Sam had to admit to herself that she was starting to feel better, despite the grey looming clouds.

"I have no defence if I lose it. You do." She looked at him curiously, questioning what her defence was. "If you lose it, it's because you blame yourself. If I lose it, it's because I want to get home to my kid and people question my ability to command, to lead off-world missions. Although considering my normal irreverence and blatant disregard for superiors… "

"I have that reason, too." Sam had been pushing thoughts of her daughter to the back of her mind, hoping to ignore the screaming protests that yelled out how it was all her fault. She could not fix the buffer. Sam could not fix the ship to return home. She was never going to see her daughter again. It was part of why she was so frustrated and angry, willing to take it out completely on O'Neill, but she was trying desperately to focus solely on her own inadequacies and not the repercussions.

"But you're not letting it show."

"No, I'm berating myself and hoping for a miracle."

"Guys, I might have an idea!" Daniel yelled as he burst into the room. Sam and O'Neill looked at each other before turning to their enthusiastic team-mate.

"Spit it out," O'Neill ordered.

"There's a planet nearby, who's co-ordinates are on the cartouche. We've tried to make contact before, but with no luck. They should have a Stargate."

"What are you waiting for, Danny?" As Daniel turned, Sam and O'Neill moved to follow him, O'Neill leaning towards Sam and saying, "Told you something would happen."

She hoped he was right. Sam did not like feeling helpless.

**SG – SG – SG**

Sitting back comfortably, Jack sighed in contentment as he waited for _The Simpsons_ to start. He had been home for two days, resting alongside Sam and enjoying being home with their daughter again. There was no denying the fact that he had been worried about their predicament, being stranded in deep space with no way of fixing the buffer problem. Despite his attempts to reassure Sam during the mission, he too had felt helpless during the mission, which was made especially worse as he could not sit back and wait for Sam to come up with one of her miracle solutions. Glancing up as he heard Sam enter the room, she threw him a packet of chips and he grinned in response. Whenever something went wrong and a mission meant either of them spent longer than planned away from home, the few days of recuperation was always filled with junk food and not doing anything of great importance. Jack loved the fact that Sam indulged him on those days, joining in with his slobbery.

"Simpsons?" she asked, indicating with a wave of her arm for him to move his feet.

"About to start," he replied, raising his feet into the air and then settling them back down onto her lap when she had sat down. She looked at him, as if to ask what he thought he was doing. Shrugging, Jack turned back to the television as he responded, "I got old knees." Sometimes his excuse held no weight with her and Sam would push them off of her regardless. This was one of the other times when she either had no energy to fight or she believed him.

For the next twenty minutes, both of them sat near silence, watching the little yellow family play out their lives on the screen, with only the occasional chuckle from Jack or groan from Sam. No matter how she tried to accept his love of the Simpsons, she still did not love it quite as Jack did. Ever since Christmas and their kiss, which Jack was still putting down to their joint inebriation, there had been an increased level of un-comfortableness between them. Everything at work was fine, but whenever they were alone, one of them would try and race from the room without making it look too obvious. That was until their recent mission on the Prometheus. Since then, on their two days sitting around at home, their existing level of comfort had returned. It did sometimes confuse him, but Jack was not about to let it change or try to think about it too much. He loved moments like the ones he was in.

As the episode ended, Jack opened his mouth to speak, but the house phone's shrill ring interrupted him as Sam reached for it. "Speaking," she said and sat up straighter. Immediately, Jack moved his feet off of her and sat up straighter, too. "Okay." It sounded bad. "Yes, I will. Thank you, Daniel." Putting the phone down, Sam turned to Jack and if he had not recognised her tone, the look in her eyes clearly said that not all was okay.

"What's happened?"

"Daniel said that a short while ago, someone turned up at work." Even though Sasha was away for the weekend and Daniella was fast asleep in her bedroom, Sam still needed to speak in code away from the base. "There's been an accident."

"Who is it? Pearce?" It was the only team he knew to be off world.

Shaking her head, Sam finally met his eyes. "It's Laira and your son."

**Next Chapter - Prophecy**

_Jack's comment about Sam getting herself into trouble was referring to how, it's okay for her to speak out against him in that moment, but not any of the other military or colonel of the ship. It may not be normal for Sam to speak as she did, but not only was she at risk of not seeing her daughter again, but also at the fact that there is no way for her to solve the problem. Next up is the return of Laira. Again!_


	22. 621 Prophecy

**Category**: Team/family angst

**Spoilers:** Direct for 6.21 Prophecy

**Content Warnings: **None

**Summary:** Needing to rescue another SG team from the clutches of a Goa'uld, Jack is forced to leave his ill son on Earth under Laira and Sam's watchful eyes.

**Episode – 6.21 Prophecy**

Entering the infirmary, Jack was both pleased and agitated at the sight before him. He was still agitated at the sight of his son lying, unconscious, on a bed there because no matter how poor his relationship was with the toddler, JJ was still Jack's son. As soon as Daniel had passed on the message that Laira had brought JJ to earth because of his illness, Jack had raced to the base. Thankfully, Doctor Fraiser had managed to stabilise the boy and he was out of danger, but still unconscious. JJ had awoken, to smile at his mother and then fell asleep again. The poor boy had suffered badly.

Laira looked up as Jack stood in the doorway and she beckoned him close. Carefully approaching them both, Jack smiled comfortingly at her and then gently touched his son's warm hand. When they had first arrived, JJ's skin had been on fire, red from the rashes, the scratching and from the incredibly high blood flow. Fraiser had managed to stabilise him with antibiotics, killing whatever was killing him. She had performed a few tests and could so far only say that it was not contagious, but that it was now in the boy's blood. Jack had not needed to be told how dangerous blood infections could be. It had taken a while for the full horror to sink in with Laira and Jack had refused to leave her side.

"How's he doing?"

"He has not awoken again, but his fever is lowering."

"That's good. I'm really pleased." There was so much that he suddenly found himself in need of saying to her, but it was still not the right time. A lot of bad blood ran between the two of them, but Jack knew that some things simply needed to be left in the past. "Look, I, uh," he started, ignoring that it was possibly not the right time, but Laira interrupted him.

"I hope that you do not mind me bringing him here. It seemed like a simple illness at first," she continued without looking up and without pause. "But then he could do nothing but scratch all over. By the time that he had lost consciousness, I had no other option but to come here."

"He's my son, too. Any time that you or he needs anything, you can come here."

"It's just that… I do not wish to cause any problems for you."

"General Hammond's fine with it, too. Although, I can't stay on down-time for much longer."

"I did not mean the general." She looked up and he could see a watery haze covering her eyes. "I will not begin to pretend that I will ever understand you, Jack, but I do know that Major Carter is of great importance to you and that my being here may, not only cause problems because of your daughter, but also with the major directly."

Gently, Jack touched her hand. In that moment, he knew that whilst they may never be friends, he and Laira were bonded together for life and could become amicable. "Sam completely understands this situation, Laira, you haven't caused any problems." There was still a niggling doubt in the back of his mind that perhaps Laira was lying, as she had done before, but he was willing to give her another chance and hope that she had moved on. As for Sam and their daughter, Jack had been more absent from home than usual, but Sam had not uttered a single word of annoyance. Jack did not think she could have been any more understanding than she had been, given that Sam had brought Daniella to work to visit with him. "I do have a bit of bad news though."

"What is it?" she asked with such a panicked tone that Jack genuinely felt for her.

"Nothing too bad," he reassured. "I have to head off-world because one of our teams needs some back up." SG-1 had been due to go to a planet technically under Ba'al's control, but due to their recent troubles and Jack's son, SG-15 had been sent instead, however, things had escalated and the planet needed freeing from Goa'uld control. Jack, Teal'c, Daniel and Lieutenant Nicola Carpenter were heading back with them to try and free the planet. "Sam said that she's happy to check in on you, if you're okay with it." Truly, she had offered, but Jack had felt such relief at knowing that the mother of his son was not going to be alone, that Jack did wonder if her offer was more for him.

"We are both mother to a child of yours. I am unaware of normal practice on Earth, but we may well need prolonged contact in the future."

"I'll let her know." He moved to walk away, but paused and turned back to her. "Fraiser said he's out of the woods already. He's strong." She nodded at him, her eyes on their son again. "If he wakes up before I get back, you're welcome to stay." Laira mumbled a thank you without looking up and Jack nodded to himself before leaving his son.

**SG – SG – SG**

As she stood outside of the door, Sam very hesitantly knocked on it gently. Trying to not hold her breath and keep her heartbeat steady and low, Sam could not help but feel the pressure of nerves building. It was only a few long moments before the door opened and Sam saw an equally nervous face looking back at her.

"Afternoon," she greeted Laira. "I hope I'm not disturbing you."

"Oh, no, no you're not. I used a spare moment to come back here and get washed. And to change my clothes." She gestured down at the base fatigues she wore and Sam smiled sympathetically at her.

"I'm used to them by now." Laira wore the green BDUs, but Sam was wearing the blue ones; she was grateful that they were not wearing the same colour. "I just wanted to let you know that if there's anything you needed whilst Colonel O'Neill's not here, you just need to ask."

"It must be very difficult for you."

"Excuse me?"

"Not being able to call him Jack." Sam still found herself wary of Laira, despite the fact that in some regards she barely knew the woman. It was still Laira that had set the past two years of her life down the path that she still found herself travelling. There was so much that Sam could blame the other woman for and so much to thank her for. Without Laira's surprise visit with JJ, Sam would never have found herself pregnant with Daniella. Suddenly Sam found herself staring at the woman she almost shared a life with. They were almost two sides of the same coin. "I mean no disrespect," Laira said as if worried by Sam's lack of response. "Please, come in?" Mutely nodding, Sam followed wondering if she should be concerned about walking into a trap or naively seeing this as her own territory where nothing could hurt her. Laira sat down on the bed and Sam perched slightly nervously against the regulation desk. The quarters were still bare, like most guest quarters always remained. "When Jack left me, both times, I believe I allowed myself to resent you for it. When he was first stranded on Edora, I saw the affection he held for something at home in his eyes constantly. Even then I knew that the affection was for you. That was clear to see before the accident stranding him with me."

Sam looked at the woman, who was speaking downwards into her lap, realising that neither of them had ever given the other a fair chance over the years.

Laira continued, "When he came to me after I begged him to, I knew that it was never for me. The affection in his eyes had gone, but it was replaced with a longing and I knew that he did not want me. I tried to convince myself that it was not purely for our son, I knew different, deep down in my soul. There was an anger in him which dissipated over the months he was with us, replaced with a very simple sadness." She took a long pause, which Sam opted to remain silent in. "I admit that I was not nice to him. It was my attempt at controlling him, mattering to him. If I could make him hate me and make him leave, it would at least be from my doing."

After another long pause, Sam chose to speak. "But you and the colonel are okay now?"

"When I discovered that you had given him a daughter, there was a bump in our path, but his reaction to his son's illness has proven that he cares for both children. He would never let either suffer, would he?"

"If there's one thing you can say about Colonel O'Neill, it's that his children come first in his life. Sometimes work muscles its way in, but for the most part, his children are his world. It hurts him having JJ so far away."

"We will work harder at their relationship," Laira promised and then stood up, meeting Sam's eyes. "I am still jealous of you, Major Carter."

"Please, call me Sam. Jealous? How?"

"I had Jack. He lived with me and there were no barriers forced upon us, but it could never work. With you, it works. You have what I could only ever have a pale imitation of."

"I don't have Jack," Sam said in a quiet voice. "I have a friend who lives with me. I have an amazing father for my child, but he can never be mine. You were allowed into the personal side of him that few ever see, and that I can never be a part of."

"Why?"

"Because we both put our daughter first, and we both put our careers first."

"Then more fool you. Both of you. I must get back to my son. And you are wrong," Laira added as she headed toward the door, "Jack O'Neill can never be anyone else's because he is yours."

**SG – SG – SG**

_In the darkness, two small pin pricks of golden light appeared from nowhere, raising his levels of curiosity. Slowly and carefully, wary of the darkness surrounding him, he made his way towards the ovals of light. There was something in the air, surrounding him and choking its way down into his lungs. _

_It made his eyes sore, caused him to blink rapidly a few times and then normally again. The thickness in the air thinned slightly although his lungs still felt clogged as if with sponge or foam. It did not make his breathing harder except for when he used his nose, then the smell would make him gag and almost vomit._

_The place reeked of death, of blood and acid, of a life slowly ebbing away. It burned away the hairs in his nostrils, along with all of his other defences._

_Approaching the lights, they grew larger and became brighter until they were right in front of him. Gingerly, he reached out his hand to see if he could find a way out of the darkness into the small globes of light. His hands his something solid and smooth so he peered closer, his nose and eyes leaning in to touch the lights._

_Nose hitting the cool surface in front of him, he peered into the light and stepped back with a fright. As if that simple action had found the light switch, the darkness began to dissipate and he realised what it was in front of him. Despite the increasing light all around him, he found himself alone with the mirror and his own reflection._

_Attempting to let out a scream at the golden eyes staring lifelessly back at him, his mirrored mouth made no move to open and his silent scream echoed throughout his own mind._

_His reflection started to smile, more like a snarl, at his own discomfort and then started to blur. Despite his fear and burning hatred for what he was staring at, he could not help but move closer to see through the blurring. The reflection appeared to be covered in wax, obscuring what his true eyes were seeing, but it appeared as if it were starting to melt, morphing into…_

**SG – SG – SG**

Ba'al.

It was the first thought that ran through Jack's mind as he sat up, shaking off his unconscious state. Glancing around him, Jack could see Teal'c and all the members of SG-15 sitting within a standard, typical Goa'uld cell. He remembered Chazen and the Goa'uld Light Grenade blinding him and then… he was in this cell. He found himself hoping that it was simply Lord Mot's scout ship above them and that Ba'al was not going to make an appearance. Jack was not sure he was quite ready to deal with another Ba'al related imprisonment. After all of his years in Black Ops, along with over six years in the Stargate Programme itself, Jack could handle, or cope with, a certain amount of torture no matter what sadistic levels it could reach. However, the memory of Kanan's occupation, Ba'al's original torture for information Jack simply could not give up and the more recent Replicator psychological torture were all still too fresh in his mind.

A simple Goa'uld Lord, he could handle.

"O'Neill, are you well?" Teal'c asked and Jack nodded, focussing on the other prisoners.

"Anyone seen Daniel or Carpenter?" Neither of them were in the cell and that was never a good sign.

"I was first to awaken and I have seen nothing of either of them." Teal'c responded.

Jack turned at a noise and saw who he could only assume to be Lord Mot approaching with a group of Jaffa. Standing, Jack took a few steps towards the bars of their cell, trying his best to look defiant at the Lord. "Where are our friends?" he demanded.

"Do not fear, colonel," the booming voice of the Goa'uld said. "They will not be harmed until after I have seen to you first."

"I'll have you know, that if you don't let us go, the Tok'ra will go and let your lord Ba'al know. He won't be happy with all the Naquadah you've been hiding from him."

"I am fully aware of your relationship with the Tok'ra and with Ba'al." He grinned maliciously at Jack. "You will not bring Ba'al into your own proximity out of fear, Tau'ri. And even if you were to," he continued with glee, "then I shall have to kill him along with you and take his place in the galaxy."

"Anubis'll be pissed."

"Not when I present him the heads of SG-1. I must thank you, Colonel O'Neill, for stepping onto my planet."

Jack's shoulders sagged slightly at the Lord's words. He was going to need another one of those miracles.

**SG – SG – SG**

Relieved that the pain was minimal, Sam forced her eyes open to see the incredibly familiar sight of the infirmary ceiling above her. She had been working on the generator when power had spiked. Sam was not too sure what happened after that point, but her body ached. Ignoring her internal protests, Sam tried to sit up, but an immense pain ran up through her arm, making her grit her teeth in pain.

"Major Carter, be careful." Slowly turning her head, Sam saw Laira sitting by her bedside, leaning forward. "You were badly hurt."

"My arm?"

"Badly burned, but still there." She smiled in an attempt to be reassuring. "Your heart stopped. Doctor Fraiser said that you're going to be fine. I can get her for you, if you'd like."

"In a minute. How long was I unconscious?"

"Not long. It has only been one day since we last spoke in my quarters." Sam nodded, pleased that it meant Daniella was fine at home with Sasha. "I heard the doctor checking with General Hammond concerning your daughter. She is fine."

"Thank you."

"Major Carter, what I said to you yesterday, I'd like to clarify that I hope the two of us and Jack can acquire a friendly relationship. I believe it to be best for the three of us and our two children. If I am to allow Jack-Junior to stay with his father, I would prefer it to be in his house, with you and Daniella."

"I don't want to be his step-mother."

"You may be whatever you wish to be to him. I would simply like for us all to get to know each other better."

"I'd like that, too, but, please, call me Sam." They both smiled as Janet approached, a curious look on her face. "Janet."

"How's my patient?"

"It doesn't hurt as much as I thought."

"That'll be the pain killers I have you on." Janet's eyes quickly looked at Laira and then back at Sam, who took it to mean that Janet was questioning what they had been speaking about.

"I should get back to Jack-Junior." She looked at Sam. "I'm glad that you're okay, Sam."

"Me, too." As Laira walked off, Janet moved closer, her eyebrows raised.

"Everything okay?"

"Yeah, it is actually."

"So, she's…"

"Trying to be friendly. She wants JJ to be able to stay with us rather than in a cabin in the middle of nowhere. Well, not with us. I told her I don't want to be his step-mother."

"No because that would confuse things too much."

"Shut up, Janet," Sam smiled.

"Shall I take away your pain meds? Honestly, Sam, you guys seem to be stepping through more and more loops, tangling your lives up more and more all of the time. Something's going to give at some point."

Memories of their Christmas kiss flashed into her mind, which Sam ignored. "We're all going to be fine. As long as no more capacitors blow up."

"Yeah, your arm's going to be in a sling for a while. The colonel might have to help out a bit more at home." It still felt odd for Sam to hear Janet speak about Jack in the work place, but then it was not in a work related matter. Sam was well aware that sometimes Janet worried about her relationship status with Jack, but Sam was finally feeling comfortable with the status quo. Aside from a drunken kiss and some misunderstandings along the way, they had levelled out and were successfully raising their daughter and working together. After a long time of not being able to, Sam finally felt able to say that nothing felt wrong or about to fall apart.

**SG – SG – SG**

Groaning and reaching a hand up to his head, Daniel forced himself to sit up through the pain and disorientation. He did not recognise where he was, but Daniel decided that it was a safe bet to assume the dungeons of the Goa'uld facility on 237. Chaven had used a large Light Grenade to knock them all out and presumably had called Lord Mot to attend to the rebellion beginning.

Looking around him, Daniel realised that he was alone with no one else from either SG team and that he was not actually in a cell. Carefully getting to his feet, Daniel headed through the nearest archway, deciding it was the best direction in which to head. There were no weapons on his person and Daniel was fully aware that there were Goa'uld lurking around everywhere. All he could do was hope that he found the others and figure out why he had been separated and not even locked up.

It only took a few minutes before he saw a uniform clad body positioned randomly on the floor. Daniel approached slowly, aware that it may be a trap, but when realising that it was Nicola lying there, he ran the last few steps and rolled her over. "Nicola," he whispered harshly, hoping that it would be enough to awaken her.

Her eyes flickered before opening fully and she looked at Daniel in confusion. "Daniel, what happened?"

"The Goa'uld are here, but I don't know where the others are."

Immediately she pulled herself out of his arms and got to her feet, scanning the immediate area. "Why aren't we locked up?"

"I don't know. I just woke up, wandered around and found you."

"Let's go find Colonel O'Neill and the others. Perhaps they were able to fight back and we got forgotten by the Jaffa."

"Strangely, I prefer that to the theory that we're just not important enough to lock up." Despite the situation, Nicola smiled at him and they began quietly walking in the same direction Daniel had opted for before finding her. "Wait a minute," Daniel whispered, "What's over here?" She followed him and Daniel was the first to stop when bile rose into his throat at the sight that beheld him.

"Has he…?"

"Been brutally tortured? Yes." Reassuringly patting her on the shoulder, Daniel then bent down closer to the heavily mutilated body in front of them.

"Who would do that?"

"An unhappy Goa'uld."

"Isn't he… a Jaffa? Why would a Goa'uld do that to one of his own Jaffa?"

Studying the body, Daniel noticed a blood trail coming from the dead body's mouth and a nearby crushed Goa'uld snake. Cautiously and curiously, Daniel slowly moved the clothing around the dead body's midriff and did not see the pouch markings a Jaffa would have. "I think the question is what Goa'uld would do this to another Goa'uld."

A look of terror crossed Nicola's face and she suddenly turned and vomited. Standing back up, Daniel waited for Nicola to turn back to him before smiling hesitantly at her. "Sorry, it's just…" He nodded in understanding. She had still never spoken to him about her torture at the hands of the Replicators. "How can anyone do such a thing? I know they're not human, but to have such disregard for life… I don't understand that kind of betrayal."

Gently he touched her wrist and indicated that they should keep moving, for fear of whoever had killed one Goa'uld happening upon them. After a short while, Daniel turned to her and said, "We didn't betray them."

She stopped walking and he turned to her, their eyes meeting; hers burned with anger. "Maybe we didn't, but I did."

**SG – SG – SG**

Fighting the urge to punch the bars, Jack stood there hoping that his attempt to show no emotion whatsoever was working. This was what he had feared and, somehow, he had known it was going to happen. Somehow his unconscious mind had known that Ba'al was going to arrive on the planet.

"Colonel O'Neill, what a delight to see you again. And you're behind bars. Isn't that just perfect?"

Jack gritted his teeth together, unwilling to taunt the man who sometimes still haunted his dreams.

"Unfortunately, I do not have the time to … have fun with you today." He genuinely seemed disappointed and Jack raised an eyebrow in response. "Jaffa!" The nearest Jaffa turned and opened the door to the cell. "You will find a clear path to the Chaapa'ai, and all of your belongings at the base."

"Excuse me?" Jack asked, finally finding his tongue. "I think I heard ya wrong." He turned to Teal'c, "Am I losing my hearing in my old age?" Teal'c replied with the smallest of smiles.

"Whilst I may not have the time to play with you, colonel, I do have time to reclaim this planet. It is a battle that you cannot win so leave now. My kindness and orders will only last so long."

"Orders?" Jack questioned.

"Ba'al is in the service of Anubis now," Teal'c said with another smile upon his face. "He is now a slave as much as the Jaffa under his command." The Jaffa who had opened the cell raised his staff weapon up and got ready to fire.

"Colonel," Ba'al shouted forcefully, "be aware that the Sholva and inferior team of yours are not part of my orders. Leave now, or it will only be you that escapes with a slither of life."

Jack nodded at SG-15 and they started to file out of the cell. He was still concerned that this was a trap, but he could either keep them all there, risking death, or try and leave, risking death. Teal'c remained where he stood, asking Ba'al, "What of Daniel Jackson and Lieutenant Carpenter?"

"My Jaffa should have found them and given them the same orders as I give you. My patience is wearing thin." Nodding again, Jack allowed Teal'c to have the rear as they both followed after SG-15. Jack paused when Ba'al called forward to him. "I look forward to our next meeting, Colonel." Chills ran through his body.

**SG – SG – SG **

Stepping down the ramp, Jack was finally home and he instantly felt some of the Ba'al related weight being lifted from his shoulders. In his life and career, Jack had faced a lot and most of it he could compartmentalise and brush to a side, but there was something about the events of the past year that did not shift so easily. His mind had been invaded too much and to too great a depth, that it was not all about the physical torture at the hands of Ba'al. He welcomed the thought of returning home, spending time with his daughter and possibly spending time with his son before Laira took him home.

"Colonel," General Hammond greeted. "How did it go?"

"Oddly."

"Debrief in ten minutes. Dismissed." Jack remained standing at the base of the ramp as everyone filed out of the room apart from Carter who stood in front of him. He watched as Daniel and Carpenter were the last out of the room; Ba'al had not only been true to his words that he allowed them all to leave, but that Daniel and Carpenter would meet them at the 'gate.

Raising his eyebrows at Carter and her bandaged up arm, she smiled and answered, "I had a little accident."

"Little?"

"My heart only stopped for a moment. Or two."

"Carter…" he warned. They both turned to walk out of the 'gate room side by side. "How's JJ?"

"He and Laira are still here, but Janet gave them permission to go home. They're coming around for dinner tonight."

"Dinner, you say?" Apparently whilst he had been absent the mothers of his children had bonded.

"I thought you might like to cook."

Smiling, Jack had only one thought in his head: it was good to be home.

**The End. Next Chapter: 6.22 Full Circle.**

_Okay, so have I redeemed Laira? There are more plans for her to come, but maybe not in this story. Next up is Full Circle which revolves mainly around an Ascended Daniel helping out. Okay, I see some problems…_


	23. 622 Full Circle

**Category**: Sam and Jack romance/angst, Team/family angst

**Spoilers:** Direct for 6.22 Full Circle

**Content Warnings: **Technically a character death, canon though.

**Summary:** Jack's informed that Anubis is heading to Abydos, intent on destroying it.

**Notes**: Okay, so how do I get around the fact that in the MT reality, Daniel never ascended?

**Episode – 6.22 Full Circle**

"So, wait a second, you have two children by different women and you're not with either of them?"

Jack ruefully smiled, knowing that it was not something to find funny, but the way Karen said it made him want to laugh out loud at his own sad, sorry life. "Yep." He took a sip of his coffee and watched as she shook her head.

"You're a right old Ross Geller, aren't you?"

"I didn't marry either of them."

"And that makes it all better?" She laughed slightly and then leaned back in her own chair. They were in a local coffee shop, a different location to their usual meet up in the park with their respective children. This time, both of them were child-free and so had picked a different venue, after all two adults chatting on a park bench may have looked odd. "But you get on with both exes? That's quite an achievement. My ex barely stops the car when he drops our son off on a Sunday."

"I live with one of them, so we have to get on."

"The other?"

"We didn't get on, but things changed recently and we all seem to be doing okay." Jack could still barely believe that it had been a near death situation for his son JJ that brought Laira and Sam closer. He never thought those two women would ever be able to sit down and have a civilised conversation, let alone eat dinner at the same table, which had happened prior to Laira and JJ returning to another planet. "I don't get to see my son much, though."

"It's good that you get on so well with Daniella's mother. There's no way I could live with my ex."

"Our relationship is… unique."

"Get real, Jack. It's more than just unique!" After first meeting Karen in the park, Jack had questioned whether or not to get into contact with her. He had been worried how it would look and if it would lead to what Sam had feared – that either of them could meet someone and start a romantic relationship. Ignoring those doubts, Jack had, for one of the first times in his life, needed to speak to someone. He had needed a friend outside of his usual circles. Karen was the only person, other than Sam, that knew about the drunken Christmas kiss. "You kissed her at Christmas and you seem to be the best of friends. I may not have known you long, Jack, but I know you're lying when you say you're just friends and colleagues."

"And there I was thinking I was good at hiding my emotions."

"Maybe usually you are, but not when it comes to her. Especially as over the past couple of months, I've heard about your two children, but only one mother. The way you speak about the two of them is completely different."

"My son's mother did go a bit psycho at one stage," he defended. Before the meal at his house, Laira had explained her actions to him and apologised, also informing him that she had apologised to Sam. It took a great deal of courage to admit to your own flaws and Jack had to admire it in Laira. She said that she was over her pettier side and that she was not about to try and control situations as tightly as she had done when he attempted to live with her and JJ.

"Don't deflect, Jack. What's really stopping you getting it on with Sam?" It scared him that this woman could see through him on emotional matters; no one was supposed to be able to see through his emotions. Rather sneakily, Jack had run a few checks on his friend, just to make sure that she was who she said she was. Jack would never put it past Kinsey or the NID to send some woman in to pretend to be his friend and garner secret information on his relationship, or lack thereof, with Sam. Karen had checked out completely, not that it meant anything with regards to Jack's job, but it did mean he could be slightly more open with her than any of his other friends when it came to his home situation. "And don't tell me it's just your job stopping you. No office politics would stop you getting it on with the mother of your child, who you just so happen to live with."

"Mine would. Trust me." He started fidgeting with his cup. "And anyway, how am I supposed to know a relationship would even work? I'm not prepared to lose my daughter or my friend."

"What do you think's going to happen when the next kiss becomes something a whole lot more intimate?"

Before Jack could answer, his cell phone started ringing. "Excuse me," he apologised to Karen and answered his cell. "O'Neill."

"Colonel," Sam's voice said, "sorry to interrupt your day off."

"That's okay." Jack could only assume that it was not related to Daniella as Sam would have started the conversation entirely differently. "What can I do for you?"

"We've had a message from Skaara. You need to get here, sir." Jack's face fell; he had not spoken to the young man in years and concern filled him.

"Jack, is everything alright?" Karen asked him, placing a hand on his arm. He nodded mutely and then spoke into the cell.

"I'll be right there."

"Yes, sir," Sam answered with hesitation in her voice and it was clear to Jack that it was her that disconnected their call. There was no doubt that Sam had heard another woman's voice.

**SG – SG – SG**

Sitting in her lab, Sam was successfully away from the hustle and bustle of everything else within the base and she was enjoying the peace and quiet. Not that she was doing any productive work whatsoever. If anything, Sam's day would end up being described as a complete waste of time. Her mind was not on the job at all.

Earlier that day, SG-1 had shipped out to Abydos with the threat of Anubis heading there to search for the Eye of Ra. Skaara had not been able to explain from where he had received his intelligence, just that his people needed SG-1's help. She figured that it was more Daniel's help because, if the Eye was in a truly hidden chamber, it would be Daniel who would be able to find it. Completely understanding the General's reasons for sending Carpenter on the mission instead of Sam, it did not change the fact that part of Sam wished that she was on the mission.

She believed part of her desire was because she feared that something important was going to happen on the mission. It was deep within the pit of her stomach and it made her feel nauseous. She was afraid of something, and it was something bad. There was also the fact that being on a mission would help clear her mind of the thoughts that were plaguing her. Laira and JJ had returned home almost a week ago and Sam could not deny that she noted a marked difference in Jack ever since. He was happier, more at peace and she liked seeing that side of him, especially at home. What would not leave her mind was the woman's voice she had heard on the telephone when she had rung Jack the day before.

It had been his day off and, as Sam was not his keeper, she had not known how he was spending his day. However, when she had rung him to tell him that Skaara had made contact regarding Anubis' threats, Sam had heard a female speak to Jack. She had not pried. She had not questioned him. Nothing changed the fact that Sam was still curious about who the woman was. It had been a trivial fear at the back of her mind for months, that one of them could potentially meet someone new and start a relationship and the thought that it might have already happened scared Sam. She had no idea what she would do if she were to become a single mother again.

Worse than that, Sam had no idea what Daniella would do without her father around so much if he moved on into a new relationship.

Shaking her head at her own childishness, Sam tried telling herself that she was making one huge mountain out of the tiniest mole-hill, but it did little to shake the bad feeling settled in deep in the pit of her stomach. Sam desperately needed something to shake the constantly repeating thoughts out of her head.

"Knock knock!" Sam looked up at the cheery voice to see the equally cheery face of Janet in the doorway. "Thought you might like to take a break for lunch." Approaching Sam's desk slightly, Janet then paused. "Although by the looks of things you haven't exactly done enough work to warrant a break."

"Things on my mind."

"Anything I can help with?" Sighing deeply, Sam considered her friend, but remained silent. "A problem shared is a problem halved."

The main problem was the fact that Janet seemed to always read things into what Sam said. Whenever Sam tried turning to her best friend with regards to problems or issues at home, Janet's first jump was to accuse Sam of being in love with Jack. Then when Sam would complain at Janet's response, telling her that it was complicated, Janet would respond with that it was her own fault and that neither Sam nor Jack helped to un-complicate matters. "It's nothing," Sam finally answered.

In what seemed like one swift motion, Janet closed the door and then returned to near Sam's desk. "Things haven't been easy, I know that. I haven't always been the most helpful friend in the world, I'm sorry." Sam looked at her, instantly seeing the deep shame in Janet's eyes. "You have to see it from my point of view, you're my best friend and he's… mainly he's a fellow military officer. Any friendship that I have with him was borne primarily out of my connection to you and Daniel, and now because you're in this family unit with him. I worry about you and I worry that one day you're going to share your problems about him with me and I'm going to say the wrong thing."

"Like what?"

"It doesn't matter. I just… I am your friend in all of this and I will always be on your side. I can't be brought into any domestic issues. I'm a military officer, just like you, and I am a medical practitioner, so I already walk a lot of thin lines."

It then dawned on Sam that, just as it had been difficult building boundaries and creating rules for her work and home lives, she and Jack had forced a lot of other people to do the same. She had only ever seen the issues for Jack, Daniella and herself with regards to problems between the three of them. It had never occurred to Sam that if something went disastrously wrong at home, Janet would still be indirectly under Jack's command and still be his main physician. "I never thought about it that way, Janet, I'm sorry."

"It's okay. Really. I want to be your friend through everything, but you have to understand, I don't agree with certain things that you've done, certain decisions you've made. I won't let it affect us, but we need a line, too." Janet paused before smiling at Sam, as if the line had just been drawn. "How about some lunch?"

Sam forced herself to smile at her friend and got to her feet. Feeling quite alone, Sam tried to think if there was anyone outside of work that she could call a friend and her mind came up blank. She found herself asking herself the same question that had plagued her for months after Daniella was born: how terrible a mistake had it been to ever sleep with Colonel Jack O'Neill?

**SG – SG – SG**

Approaching the wormhole's event horizon, Jack paused and looked backwards. There was an odd noise above him and all around him, plus a distinctly odd looking electrical discharge randomly rushing around the interior of the pyramid. He had no idea how they had really escaped from their boxed in corner of the secret chamber of the catacombs, but he knew now that Abydos was not about to be saved by Anubis.

Jack was suddenly very grateful that Skaara was already dead.

Or had he truly ascended?

Confusion continued building within him as Jack found himself unable to move, watching the build-up all around him. The mission had seemed to be going to plan. It had not taken long for Daniel and Carpenter to locate the Eye, and apparently some incredibly important tablet with information on the Ancients and a Lost City, but then the Jaffa had boxed them in, killing every other Abydonian on their way except for Skaara who Teal'c had helped to bring down to the chamber. It was Skaara, on his death bed, who had told Jack to hand over the Eye, that Abyydos and SG-1 would be spared if they did.

His final thoughts had been half confirmed; SG-1 had been allowed to leave without further incident. Jack could feel the build-up of power all around him and he knew that Abydos was not going to be spared.

Not wanting to hold off any longer, Jack stepped through the Stargate and immediately on the other side he shouted, "Close the iris!"

"Jack?" Daniel questioned from the foot of the Stargate.

The wormhole disengaged and Jack barrelled straight past Daniel. "I don't think Anubis held up his end of the deal." Glancing up, he noted that Sam was in the control room, thankfully. As he entered the control room, registering that the rest of SG-1 were following him, Jack said, "Carter, check the 'gate. Anything unusual?"

There was a moment's pause, as she studied the data. "Actually, yes, sir. A huge blast of energy followed you through. If you hadn't have ordered to close the iris…"

"Dial Abydos."

"Sir," she agreed, starting the dialling procedure. It was the technician that spoke next, after agonising moments of watching the Stargate spin.

"Chevron seven will not lock."

"Damnit!" Jack cursed and stormed from the room. He needed to be alone. More than anything, Jack needed to destroy something. Heading straight for his on-base quarters, Jack slammed the door shut behind him and studied his room. He wanted to upturn the bed. He wanted to fling the wardrobe to the floor. He wanted to smash the lamp against the wall. He wanted to shatter the painting that hung at an angle against the floor. He wanted to punch a hole through every wall, the door, the floor and the ceiling. Still raging, Jack heard a quiet knock on the door, but he ignored it. Even if it were General Hammond, Jack was still likely to punch him.

"Colonel?" It was Sam's voice.

"Go away, Carter!" he growled. He just wanted to be left alone. Skaara was dead. Abydos had been destroyed. He had witnessed so many young boys lose their lives to staff weapon blasts and then seen just a pile of clothes remaining. Jack had no explanation for it. Somehow, the bodies of everyone who had died had disappeared. Including Skaara. Jack had no idea what it meant and if they had all truly ascended, but it was all irrelevant because he had still been at his friend's side when he had died. It had all been for nothing. Skaara had asked them to find the Eye to stop Anubis and then, when they were all backed into a corner, it had been Skaara who told them to hand over the Eye. All the time, Daniel and Carpenter had been muttering enthusiastically about some tablet they had found, something about the Ancients and Ascended beings. Jack had not cared, he still did not care, Skaara was dead and it was all pointless.

He could not believe that a young man, so full of life and innocence, had been ripped from the world when he had his life ahead of him. Skaara had been planning to get married, he had been excited about meeting Daniella for the first time. None of that would happen now. Slumping against the cool wall, all the fight left Jack and he sank to the floor.

"Colonel?" The voice was louder and Jack glanced to the side to see Sam's head poking in through the now open door. He considered shouting at her again. He considered yelling at her to go away and never come back. Jack no longer had the energy to do anything. She took his silence as a welcome and came into the room fully, closing the door behind her. Without invitation, she sat down next to him on the floor, keeping a gap in-between them. Jack often wondered if he scared Sam. "I'm sorry, Jack," she whispered, "Daniel told me about Skaara."

Leaning his head backwards, looking up at the ceiling, he said, "He was getting married. He asked me to Shakalaki or something with him. Said it was to stand beside him. I never even met her. They never had the chance to get married, have kids, anything. I asked him to fight against their Gods, to rescue them and what was it all for? Nothing."

"Don't say that, Jack. That isn't fair."

"Isn't it?" he demanded, looking at her angrily. She did not back down. She did not shy away from his anger. Instead, Sam sat there staring back at him, waiting for his next move. Jack admired Sam's courage. "I stumbled onto their planet. I killed Ra. I encouraged them to fight against Apophis. It was because of me that Skaara was taken, forced against his will… Invaded." Flashes of Kanan, Ba'al and then the human form Replicators zoomed through his mind. "He still kept fighting. And then I let Anubis destroy his entire damn planet."

"You said it yourself, Jack, *he* still kept fighting. You only helped him become the adult he was, an adult who fought for his people, who stood up for what he believed in and helped others. You helped shape him into someone who didn't let his problems and his past shade his life because he found love. How can that all be for nothing?"

"If you dare say that's he's in a better place now," Jack threatened, with the hint of a smile in his voice.

"I'm sorry."

"He was still just a kid." Moving forward slightly, Jack leant his forehead against his lower arms and a few moments later he felt a hand on his shoulder which gently coaxed him over to one side. Letting his eyes close, Jack also allowed himself to relax against Sam as she sat there simply holding him.

**SG – SG – SG**

_Opening his eyes slowly, Jack found himself blinded by the brightness. It was then that he realised he was standing up, his feet standing on almost burning hot sand. He looked down and then back up, noting that he was dressed casually in cream trousers and a dark brown shirt, and considered if he was on Abydos. It was obvious even to him that he was dreaming._

"_Hey?" he shouted out, hearing an impossible returning echo. Jack could never decide if he preferred the creepy dreams which scared him to Hell, or the weird ones where he at least recognised that he was dreaming. Taking a step, Jack decided to be proactive in this dream and search out whatever was happening. Perhaps the sooner he figured it out, the sooner he would wake up. His foot hit something odd, un-sand like and Jack bent down to look at what was there. It looked like human hair, but it was surrounded too much by sand._

_Very carefully, Jack began dusting the sand off of the object and he soon realised that it was a head. Spurring him on, Jack worked harder at uncovering the scalp and then face of the buried person until he realised that it was Ba'al. Jack jumped backwards slightly in shock, but managed to not fall over. Peering closer towards the motionless figure, something to his left caught Jack's eye and he started carefully digging again. It was not deeply buried, but only the tip of the Goa'uld larvae could be seen until Jack finished uncovering it. Then he heard a noise that sounded like sand falling through an egg-timer._

"_Hello, O'Neill." Jack turned in the direction of the familiar voice and egg-timer to see Skaara standing nearby with a handful of Replicator pieces slowly falling onto the sand. "This is almost a dream."_

"_I never asked."_

"_But you wondered."_

In my mind_, Jack thought and Skaara smiled in response. "So you can read my thoughts?"_

_Shaking his head as an adult in the know does to a child. "No, O'Neill, I am almost in your mind."_

"_Like how this is almost a dream?"_

"_Yes." There was silence for a moment. "I am real, O'Neill."_

"_Good to know." There was a long pause, until Jack spoke again, "You died."_

"_I did. Do not be sad, O'Neill, this is just the beginning of my journey." An alarm went off in Jack's mind and he wondered, for a moment, if it was a distant alarm clock attempting to awaken him. "I have been allowed to visit with you, but I cannot remain for long."_

"_Huh? Allowed? By who?"_

"_My sister's child, Shifu."_

_Words flashed into Jack's mind: _Shifu. Harcesis. Oma Desala. Ascension._ And then he realised that it was true. "You're ascended?"_

_Smiling, Skaara nodded. "My entire people. It was Shifu who told me to give up the Eye to Anubis. He believed that Anubis would save the planet."_

"_He didn't."_

"_He did not, but Shifu rescued my people. His people."_

"_So really you're a big glowing ball of light?"_

"_O'Neill, I do not have much longer. In the hidden chamber Daniel uncovered a tablet."_

"_He's been mumbling something about Lost Cities and the Ancients being the Ascended guys."_

"_It is true. Oma and the others are who you name the Ancients and there is in fact a Lost City of the Ancients. You need to be the one to find it, O'Neill."_

"_Okay, clue me in on where it is."_

"_I cannot interfere, but I can…" Skaara stepped forward and placed his hand gently on Jack's forehead. It was warm and the warmth spread through his entire body. Jack watched as a calmness fell over him and the sand swallowed up the Replicator pieces, Ba'al and dead Goa'uld. Skaara removed his hand and smiled, "Take away some of your pain. Live well, O'Neill."_

"Dada?" Jack sat bolt upright in his own bed and looked down at Daniela who had somehow managed to climb up onto him. He never slept deeply enough to allow her that far into the room.

"I'm here. I'm awake." Daniella smiled at him, her cute four teeth showing. Scooping her up into a cuddle, Jack squeezed her as tight as he felt comfortable, trying to share in some of her innocence. He was not sure if he had been dreaming, but Jack had to admit that he did feel calmer. Jack was happy to believe that Skaara was safe, that he had ascended and that none of the Abydonian's journeys were yet over.

**The End. Next Chapter – 7.01**

_This was one of the episodes (along with the next two) that I had the greatest apprehension over getting to. I mean, how was I supposed to deal with an episode where AscendedDaniel rescues Abydos and propels the plot along? Thankfully there is Shifu who I don't believe would allow his Uncle and Grandfather (along with the rest of Sha're's people) to just simply die despite the rules. I still have a few problematic episodes to deal with though…_


	24. 701 FallenHomecoming

**Category**: Sam and Jack romance/angst

**Spoilers:** Direct for 7.01 Fallen

**Content Warnings: **None.

**Summary:** After a hazardous mission to try and stop Anubis, things are more dangerous for Jack and Sam at home and at Jonas' leaving party.

**Episode – 7.01/2 Fallen/Homecoming**

"Do you really think this is the wackiest plan we've ever had?" Sam heard herself asking across the near empty locker room. Jack was sitting down on the bench and he paused in putting on his shoe to look at her.

"Yeah, yeah, I do." A strong silence fell over them with Sam desperately trying to pluck up enough courage to speak her mind. She knew that it was something she should have brought up at home and that it was not a 'work-place' conversation, but they were heading out to Vis Uban in a short time. Ever since Christmas and their kiss, Sam had known that things were changing between herself and Jack. If she truly thought about the year they had been living together, Sam would have been able to pinpoint far more events that had changed their relationship. It had been her that had brought up the prospect of either of them meeting someone new, however, it had been him that appeared to have. It had been over two months since she had overheard a woman on the other end of the phone line, a little longer than that since Laira had returned home with JJ, the foundations of a civil relationship forming between them all. There had been no reason in those two months to mention anything, to alter the status quo. Everyone seemed happy.

Sam was worried that this mission would be far wackier than Jack was joking it would and that it was an incredibly dangerous and risky mission. Before Sam managed to get any words out, Jack spoke again. "If things were different, I'd be asking General Hammond to take you off this mission."

Forgetting her original subject matter completely, Sam responded angrily, "Excuse me?"

"Calm down, Carter," he mumbled, as he finished tying his lace. "As Jack, father to a beautiful daughter, I want you to stay at home with her. The fact that every single part of this mission is crazy and dangerous and that at the end of all that, we're relying a Goa'uld to save our butts… It's not my idea of fun." She remained silent, waiting for him to explain himself fully. "As Colonel O'Neill, you're the only one I want to be stuck in an F302 with. You're the only one I trust enough to get us both home."

"I know this is the wrong time and place, but, Jack, I need to ask you something." His head turned sharply to her at the use of his name on base. Standing up, Jack took a step towards her.

"What is it?"

"It's silly really and it was ages ago, but I have a bad feeling about his mission." Sam was not sure what part she feared the most. Perhaps it was sending Daniel and Jonas Quinn onto Anubis' ship after Daniel's revelation that an ascended Skaara had informed him that Anubis managed to ascend. Perhaps it was hoping that Teal'c and Yu arrived in time. Perhaps it was the controlled burst that could cause the F302 to materialise inside of Anubis' ship. There were so many things that could go wrong and so much vital information that they still did not have before heading off. "And there's something that I think I need to talk to you about."

"Are you okay?" The concern was clear on his face and in his voice and Sam wished that she had brought this all up earlier, far earlier than the morning of a mission.

"Remember when I rang to tell you that there was a problem on Abydos?" He nodded. "I heard a woman's voice in the background. And I don't want to become the paranoid, curious person who believes has a right to every element of your life. I don't want to ask who she is or what she may mean to you. You have no reason to even answer those questions. I just… I need you to know…" Her words were failing her. She wanted to tell him that she was not happy for him to move on. She did not want him falling in love with someone else. Sam did not want to fall in love with someone else either. She was not thinking as a potential single mother, putting her child first, Sam did not want Jack moving on for purely selfish reasons.

In a flash of movement, Jack crossed the few steps between them and nearly crushed her in his arms. Despite their surroundings, Sam relaxed against him, basking in the feel of him through their many layers. He pulled away from her very slightly and moved his hands to cup her face on both sides, causing her arms to drop slightly around his back. Her eyes closed and as she felt his lips gently brush against her own, tears filled her eyes behind the lids. They had reached a new level of status quo and Sam could not allow it to change. Forcing her hands and arms to move, Sam reached up to his hands and incredibly reluctantly pulled them away from her face. She kept her eyes closed, feeling him move away from her and missing the proximity straight away. His hands fell out of hers and she heard him take a few steps. Allowing her eyes to open, Sam looked at Jack, trying to gauge his reaction.

"Don't worry." His eyes flickered around her, only meeting hers for the briefest of moments. "In a few days we'll both be sitting at home with our daughter. Back to normal."

Nodding in agreement, Sam knew what she had to say next and how important the phrasing was. It was like a full stop and it would end the brief moment and possible actions. Purposefully, Sam kept her eyes from his face so she could not see any of the pain when she finally said, "Yes, sir."

**SG – SG – SG**

As he entered the locker room, Jack saw a form sitting on the bench and immediately began to back out. "Sorry, didn't mean to…" It was a feminine form so Jack decided he would head to his locker at another time.

"Colonel?" He paused at Sam's voice and turned back, forcing a smile at her.

"I didn't realise anyone was in here."

"It's okay. It's only me."

Awkwardly he stood slightly nearer the bench than the door and he nervously rocked a bit from foot to foot. "So, uh, Carter, you okay?"

"No. Not really." Jack's eyebrows rose at her candidness. She looked over at him and Jack thought he could see tears in her eyes. "Teal'c could well already be dead, or at least at the mercy of Yu. We have no idea where Anubis has gone with Daniel and Jonas. Last we heard, Jonas was captured. He should never have been allowed on that mission. Jonas may know the Ancient language, he may have invaluable skills, but he doesn't go off-world. He isn't trained for missions like the rest of us." She laughed bitterly. "I knew something bad was going to happen. You knew it, for crying out loud."

"Oh-kay, and you've been living with me too long."

"Your sarcasm is really not what I need right now."

"We'll get them all back." She looked at him sceptically. "We always get them all back."

"Always doesn't last forever. At some point something has to give." Her eyes drilled into his and Jack was no longer sure of what she was speaking. "Doesn't it, sir?" She stood and purposefully walked past him to leave the locker room. He caught her left elbow with his hand, stopping her.

"Eventually things change, evolve, luck runs out. Or in."

"And then what?" Sam implored of him, her eyes begging him for an answer.

"Then we adapt. We survive." He had still not released her arm and she had not yet relaxed into his grip. This locker room interaction was nothing like just a few days earlier. Jack was still unsure what had caused him to so brazenly attempt to kiss her. It was hardly an attempt, he chided himself internally; their lips had touched and that was exactly what a kiss was. He had not wanted her believing that there was another woman in his life. He had not wanted it to cloud her mind on their mission, or for her to believe that it was even possible on the craziest mission they had ever risked their lives for. Jack needed her to know that she was important to him, not just as Daniella's mother, but also in a whole heap of ways that he could never say out loud.

Sam opened her mouth to respond, but then jumped away, Jack released her arm as he heard the door open and close. He was thankful for the disruption because the time and place were nowhere near right for the conversation he had been on the brink of.

"Colonel O'Neill, Major Carter," Carpenter said clearly trying to decide if she should salute or not.

If either Daniel or Teal'c had been the ones to walk in now, Jack would not feel half as embarrassed as he did with it being her. She may be a member of his team, one who's role was steadily increasing in his team, but she had not yet made it to 'friend' status as the others had managed. Jack was unsure if she ever would. He had the faith in her to have his back, but in most life or death situations, Jack wanted Sam backing him up. "Lieutenant," he greeted in reply, hoping that she could not notice the tension or how he had hold of Sam.

"General Hammond wants the three of us in the briefing room, sir." Nodding, Jack followed the two women out of the locker room, running his hand through the back of his hair in annoyance.

**SG – SG – SG**

"So Ba'al hinted at some greater resources?" Jack asked, picking up something randomly from Daniel's desk.

"Indeed."

Daniel snatched the object from Jack and put it back on his desk. "Maybe that explains why he let us all go when Mot had us in cells."

"So he's willing to kill his underling then for Anubis, but then turns on him later for Teal'c and the Tau'ri? I don't buy it." Carpenter was sitting at her own desk, facing Daniel and the other two men.

"Ba'al indicated that he would be able to utilise Anubis' hidden resources for his own means."

"What do you think that means?" Daniel asked.

"That even if we manage to defeat Anubis, we'll still have Ba'al to deal with."

"Hey guys," Sam greeted as she entered the room, glossing over the sombre tone present. "Jonas has decided to return to Kelowna, taking back the knowledge he's acquired here."

"That's a shame," Carpenter added. "I've liked my little lab buddy."

"Hey!" Daniel protested and Carpenter shook her head at him.

"Drinks and food at O'Malley's tonight nineteen-hundred hours."

"We allowed in there?" Jack asked.

"I am unsure of you, O'Neill, but I am."

"Good to know, T."

**SG – SG – SG**

"Jonas, I am going to miss you!" Sam declared, throwing her arms around the younger man. All Jack could do was watch from a distance, allowing only a small smile on his face at the sight. He was sure that she was not drunk, but he was also pretty convinced that she was at the very least a bit tipsy and he wondered if the point would come that he should attempt to rescue her before she got too inebriated. She was dressed in a simple black dress which fell down to her knees, flowing outward slightly from the waist and it had very thin straps holding it up over her shoulders. Even through living with her, Jack rarely got to see Sam looking so dressed up, so glamorous and so relaxed. They no longer kept alcohol in the house and neither of them often drank at all, so the couple of glasses Sam had consumed appeared to have gone straight to her head.

"Hey, Colonel, how are you this evening?" Jack turned and saw Janet standing next to him at the bar.

"I'm okay. You?"

"Fine." They remained in silence, Jack glancing over at Sam every now and then. She was pretty much surrounded by men and every once in a while she laughed, her smile lighting up the room. Jack tried telling himself that all of those men around her were colleagues, but something about them was making his stomach churn. "How's it going with you and Sam?"

His head snapped to meet Janet's eyes and he could see that her gaze had followed his. "What do you mean?"

"Must be difficult living with your junior officer."

"Has she said something to you?"

Janet laughed, gulping down a mouthful of red wine. "No because that would be unprofessional, wouldn't it? Her telling me about issues with her Colonel."

"Is that why you don't come around much?"

"Maybe I'm just not too good at hiding what I feel, keeping things locked up in a box or in a room."

"I don't know, I think you've been pretty good keeping things secret from Daniel, and everyone else."

She raised her glass at him and Jack was happy to oblige in clinking them together. "At least my reasons are better than yours."

"How so?" he asked, looking down at the bar with a glance over at Sam. It seemed as if there were even more men surrounding her now and Jack was not sure that they were all military personnel from the base.

"You know what she feels." His eyes went back to her and then sought out Daniel. The archaeologist was sitting at a table, opposite Carpenter and they appeared deep in conversation. Jack looked at Janet again. "You chose to not do anything about it."

"It's by far not that easy."

"Because of regulations? Because of your daughter? How about because you're both scared and selfish? Has it ever occurred to you how your non-relationship affects those around you? It was one thing to have Sam talk about her romantic life years ago, when it was implied but never stated who she was talking about, but it's another now that it is you. She lied to me for you. For months. She ignored the medical implications of what it could mean for Daniella to be the child of you and her." Jack winced at this as, for the most part, he ignored any potential implications until they were proved in Daniella. "She was so affected by you that she had a drunken one night stand, slept with her commanding officer and then became a liar to her friends."

"Bitter much?"

"Wrong emotion, colonel." Janet stood up with her drink in hand and started to walk passed Jack. "You still have a chance, but the window will close."

"Wouldn't that make things better for you?" He could see Janet's point of view, but it was only with her words that Jack realised that perhaps Sam had no one. A random meeting in a park had led Jack to become friends with another single parent, who just so happened to be female. Internally he had argued then that he needed a friend outside of his usual close circle due to the regulations and other barriers that existed. It had never occurred to him that Sam may not have anyone with whom she could share her feelings. He had spent the past year believing that Janet would be there for her.

Whirling around with anger burning in her eyes, Janet did not look happy. "Do not get me wrong, Jack, I want my friend to be happy. I'm not sure if that means you or not, but the two of you are going to explode at some point. It may be months away, maybe even a year, but one day something's going to get destroyed. Unless you figure out the right thing to do."

"After you, doc." Jack downed the remaining whiskey in his glass – his first and only drink of the evening – and stormed past Janet. He did not need to be reminded of how he had thrown a spanner larger than any Siler owned into Sam's life, or how a Naquadria sized explosion could destroy things completely if he ever made the wrong move. As politely as he was able in his newly formed bad mood, Jack pushed his way through the crowd surrounding Sam and caught her attention.

"Jack, what's up?" she asked, clearly slightly giddy. It was still odd for him to hear her call him Jack when surrounded by people from work. He motioned her to follow him off to the side slightly and she complied after smiling and apologising to Jonas. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah," he reassured her. "I'm not really in the party mood. Can you catch a lift with Teal'c or someone?"

"Don't be silly, it's already gone ten and Dani will demand my attention tomorrow. I'll just say bye to Jonas." Waiting by the door for only a few minutes, Jack was surprised at how quickly Sam managed to say her 'goodnights'. Silently they began the short walk to his car, Jack's mood dissipating quickly as he watched Sam ahead of him. After a few steps, Sam spontaneously twirled around on the spot, revealing more of her legs than Jack was usually able to see as her skirt whirled around. Of course he had seen her thighs on certain occasions, but not when a skirt should be covering them.

"Be careful, you, on those heels."

Sam turned and walked backwards, smiling at him. "I do wear heels, Jack. I am a woman."

"Oh, don't I know it," Jack mumbled low enough that she could not hear. After twirling again, Sam then came to a dead stop. "What?"

"I haven't danced at all this evening." She pouted and Jack was reminded of their daughter. "I'm all dressed up and no one asked me."

Jack could not help laughing slightly at her. "How much have you drunk, Sam?"

Glaring at him, Sam punched him playfully on the arm, both of them standing still and in front of each other. "Enough to know that I want to dance and haven't."

He rolled his eyes, knowing that he was going to regret what he was about to do, but he could not cope with her sad, pouting face anymore. Putting his left hand on her waist and taking her left hand in his right, Jack pulled her closer and began to move in time with the dim music he could hear from the pub behind him. Hesitating for a moment, it did not take Sam long to catch up and start moving in time with him. She then rested her head against his shoulder and he fought the urge to rest his own on hers.

"You seemed angry," she stated simply.

"I'm not anymore." Her head moved and Jack found himself looking directly into her twinkling eyes, realising in that moment that he had made a wrong move. Her right hand was on his lower back and Jack had noticed that it was stroking slight patterns across it. Unaware of the conscious decision, his fingers on the hand that was on her waist were moving slightly on the soft fabric of her dress. Due to her high heels, Sam only had to move very slightly as she touched her lips to his and all coherent thought fled Jack's mind. Her left hand shook free from his and found its way to the back of his head, pushing his mouth closer to hers. His now empty free right hand went immediately to her waist as both of his hands squeezed her tightly and pulled her closer. Stepping forward and taking her with him, Jack backed her up until they reached the door of his car and crushed her against it with no objection. Gently nudging her legs apart with his right leg, it was only a few moments before he could faintly feel the chill of the car's cold metal against his knee, but he ignored it for the fierce kiss and actions her hands were still doing.

Her left hand was still on his head, the fingers wrapping around and twisting through his short hair. Every once in a while she pulled gently which caused him to increase the fierceness of their kiss. Meanwhile, Sam's right hand had found its way to his waistband and under his shirt, stroking his bare skin. Moving his left hand to cup her face, preventing her from moving away from his mouth, Jack then used his right hand to gather up her dress slightly and caress the smooth skin of her thigh underneath. A moan escaped her lips into his mouth as his fingers touched her thigh and Jack could not help smiling against her before breaking the kiss and trailing his lips along her jawline and onto her neck. She moaned his name out loud, barely above a whisper and he laughed into her neck only to be rewarded by feeling goose bumps underneath his lips.

He could hear her breathlessness and feel her increased pulse against his lips and there was not another sensation in the world aside from her until he heard distant voices. Pulling away from her neck, Jack stood silently in front of Sam, putting a finger to her lips indicating for her to be quiet. The voices continued past, but Jack could make out to whom they belonged. He was sure that it was Teal'c helping Jonas to a car. Remaining silent and unmoving until their car had gone, Jack then looked Sam in her eyes and saw something ever so tempting in their depth, something seductive in her lips touching his finger still. He had no idea how much she had drunk, but suddenly all that he could think was that he was taking advantage of her. Janet's words, his own concerns and the simple truth that he was her colonel started rolling around in Jack's head and he abruptly stepped away from Sam, causing her to stumble slightly at the loss.

Jack had no idea what to say, neither did he know what to do. He felt like he should explain and give her some explanation for his actions, but he had no idea what other Pandora's boxes that would open. Jack did know that he could not just walk past her and get into the car. He could not simply remain standing where he was, two steps away from her and refusing to even look at her. Wanting to describe the past few minutes as a mistake, Jack could not quite bring himself to agree to it, but he did know that the fine line they both kept walking was becoming far too thin. Something had to give.

Something had to break.

In one swift action, Jack moved forward and punched his right fist against the metal frame of his car, just off to Sam's left. Out of the corner of his eye, Jack saw her flinch and he wanted to apologise to her. All he could manage to mumble was, "I don't know." She moved away from the car and he wondered for a moment if she was about to place a comforting hand on his shoulder. Jack had no idea what he would do if she touched him right now. She did not.

"Let's go home."

**The End** – **Next Chapter 7.03**

_There wasn't an easy way to split these two episodes, so I kept them together. Next chapter could well be the last of this story (finally) and I promise a few answers on Janet. I promise nothing with regards to Sam and Jack, however! I'm not in the camp that everyone else would be fine with Sam and Jack having a relationship, or having a child and remaining friends. Sorry, but I think that Janet would have internal issues with regards to the decisions that Sam has made ever since she slept with Jack and how close they have come to breaking regulations. As the only other military friend, I think there's room for her to have issues._


	25. 703 Fragile Balance

**Category**: Sam and Jack romance/angst

**Spoilers:** Direct for 7.03 Fragile Balance

**Content Warnings: **Perhaps MiniJack!

**Summary:** It's the morning after Jonas' leaving party where things got dangerous for Jack and Sam, but now they have a new problem – MiniJack!

**Episode – 7.03 Fragile Balance**

Walking down the stairs in her house, Sam was preoccupied with her own internal thoughts. The night before, she had been at Jonas Quinn's leaving party and afterwards, she and Jack had shared an incredibly passionate kiss. She had no idea where it could have led them, but it had been Jack that had stopped it. Subsequently, Sam was now apprehensive of what the morning would hold with Jack. Sasha, their live in nanny, had the entire weekend off and there had been plans for Sam, Jack and Daniella to spend the weekend all together as a family. Sam was no longer sure that it was the best course of action anymore.

She wished that she could speak with Janet about the problems, but her friend had made it clear that she did not want to be involved in the tricky non-relationship, especially as it had become even trickier after the events of the night before. Sam still was not sure what had gotten into her. She had barely slept with the thoughts running around and around in her mind. Every once in her while the confusing, troubled thoughts would be replaced with the memories of his hands and his lips and his body in total, Sam was not sure which thoughts had been worse. She had awoken to thoughts that were no clearer than the night before.

It had been her that had instigated the kiss and despite feeling a little bit tipsy, Sam had not been drunk; the drinks had merely given her the confidence to do what she often wanted to do. Even she had to admit that in the cold light of day, it had been a rash decision to make and perhaps not the wisest of moves. All that she needed to do was speak with Jack and agree to forget it happened. They had just managed to fully balance their new work and personal roles so it was not the time for her to upset the scales.

After having awoken, Sam had gone to get Daniella to discover that she was not in her cot so had used the opportunity to get washed and dressed before heading down to find Jack and Daniella. Peering into the lounge, Sam saw Daniella attempting to build a tower out of her building blocks. As she accidentally knocked it down in the building process, Sam heard a voice that she did not recognise.

"Oopsy, try again." Without a second thought, Sam quietly rushed from the room and towards Jack's office. The door was secured by a key pad which Sam knew the code for, rushed into the room and opened the safe with another code. Grabbing out one of the two Zat guns housed within the safe, Sam firmly closed the door and then the door to the office before carefully walking back into her lounge, the Zat pointed towards the intruder. Sam did not like pointing a weapon in the same direction as her child, but at least with a Zat it would do no lasting damage.

Except they had not ever tested the electrical discharge of a Zat on a child as young as Daniella.

"Step away from my daughter!" she said forcefully, seeing the intruder's face fully for the first time. There was something familiar about the teenager sitting on the floor, which made Sam question the weapon in her hands. It did not persuade her to lower the Zat as she was well aware that certain government agencies would do anything to get what they wanted. Ever since she had been kidnapped while pregnant to 'help' Adrian Conrad, her daughter had extra protection. The house was not under constant surveillance, but whenever Sasha was looking after Daniella alone there were military officers watching without her knowledge. Janet performed monthly tests on the little girl and had discovered nothing different in her blood work or system to any other child of her age, but that would not deter other people.

"Sam, what the hell are you doing?" The teenager stood up rather aggressively.

"Step away." She was trying desperately trying to not scare Daniella, but it was clearly not working as the girl began to whimper.

"See you're scaring her."

Narrowing her eyes at the intruder, Sam gritted her teeth and said, "Where's Jack?"

"What? How much did you drink, Sam?" Sam looked at him in confusion.

"Who are you and what are you doing in my house?"

"I'm Jack."

"No, no you're not." His brow furrowed in confusion and he walked over to the nearest mirror with no regard to the weapon pointed at him.

"What the hell?" he yelled upon seeing his own reflection and Daniella began to cry loudly. "Sorry, baby girl." The teenager moved toward Daniella, but Sam reinforced the fact that she had a weapon trained on him.

"Stay away from my daughter."

"Clearly she recognises me, Sam. Don't you?" She started stepping towards Daniella and he did start moving away.

When she reached her daughter, Sam picked her up and turned to the teenager. "Why should I recognise you?"

"Because I'm Jack. Look, you used to be host to Jolinar. You quite like the fact that you're not on SG-1 as much as you were, but you don't like Carpenter taking your place."

"That just shows you've done your homework."

"Last night you kissed me."

"Homework."

"And I didn't follow you to your room, or the other way around." She opened her mouth to speak and in a very Jack-like way, the teenager stopped her, "Ach! No amount of spying or watching would know what happened inside here. Unless, you failed in your area of expertise and someone managed to bug this place." Refusing to believe him fully, but unable to deny the logic, Sam lowered the Zat slightly, but not fully.

"We'll just wait for the Air Force to get here." Gesturing for him to move, Sam pointed him in the direction of the telephone. "Speed dial two."

"I know."

**SG – SG – SG**

Jack was incredibly frustrated. He was not sure when he had ever been this frustrated before, or this angry. It was one thing to wake up and have Sam point a Zat at him. He understood and as soon as he had looked at his reflection and realised there was something seriously wrong, he had allowed Sam to call whoever she wanted and he had stayed away from Daniella. Thankfully, genetic tests had proved that he was still Jack O'Neill and Sam had allowed him access to Daniella, albeit with a guard which, again, Jack did understand. What frustrated Jack the most was that he was not allowed to do his job despite the fact that he had proven himself to still be a capable colonel. That and the fact that the Asgard had apparently done something wrong in the de-aging process and he was now dying as also more than a tad frustrating.

Colonel Jack O'Neill was now a teenager who was dying and it was all because of the grey-skinned naked little Asgard that had done this to him. All that he wanted to do was end his days by a lake with his daughter. It was the one thing that he was thankful for in everything, Daniella had not noticed anything was wrong. If anything, Daniella was the only person to know instantly that he was still her father. He had no explanation for it.

Jack also had no explanation for how he now found himself sitting by a lake, Daniella giggling in the mud nearby. After the Tok'ra had suggested stasis something had snapped within Jack's mind and at the first available opportunity, he had taken out the SFs guarding him and made his way out of the base. He understood why he had done that and Jack hoped that so would everyone else, including those he had intentionally hurt during his escape. What he could still not explain was the fact that after breaking out of the SGC, his first port of call had not been the lake instead, Jack had snuck into his own home and possibly, technically, kidnapped his own daughter.

Sam was going to kill him, but Jack had managed to get the spare Zat from their safe at home and he knew that even at his younger age, he could protect his daughter.

"Isn't that right, Dani," Jack said out loud, "I'm all you need." In response, Dani giggled and pulled more grass out of the ground. A large commotion near the dirt road that led to the lake, brought Jack's attention and he turned in that direction. A large amount of debris now blocked the road and in response, Jack raised the Zat.

"Jack O'Neill, you sonofa-"

"Ach!" Jack shouted back in retaliation to Sam's yell. "Not in the presence of such innocent ears." Satisfied that it was just SG-1 standing near the fallen debris, Jack lowered the Zat. "I'm not going back there to go in stasis."

"So instead you came up here to die?" Daniel shouted as the three members of SG-1 manoeuvred around the debris towards Jack.

"Clever move with Daniella, you inconsiderate jerk." As the three of them neared him, Jack realised that, with the exception of Daniel, their weapons were still raised. Concern filled him and Jack bent over to pick up his daughter. There was something wrong with the picture.

"I knew you'd find me before I died," he protested. "That's why I didn't put explosives on my trip wire. What's with the weapons?"

"Hand over my daughter."

"Don't you mean our daughter, and, no."

"O'Neill, hand Daniella over or I will be forced to fire."

"T, buddy, what's going on?"

"We've spoken to the Tok'ra, Jack." It had been Sam's idea to call for the Tok'ra, despite the fact that Jacob was still unaware of Daniella's true parentage. Jack had practically begged Sam to not tell him whilst he was a fifteen year old boy. He could not have dealt with Jacob's wrath in his current state. Sooner or later, Jacob was going to find out and Jack did not really want that day to come. "And Sam has something she needs to tell you."

Jack looked at Sam, she seemed worried and really scared. "Jack," she started, "please hand Daniella over."

"Go to mommy," he said to Daniella before putting her down on the ground and watching her toddling over to Sam. Once she was safely in Sam's arms Jack asked, "What's going on?"

"The slight alteration in your DNA, Jack, you're a clone. You're not Colonel O'Neill and…" She could not finish her sentence.

"And you can't trust me." The rational side of his mind understood what she was saying, but the teenage, hormone ridden part wanted to punch something. Jack was not used to these levels of uncontrolled testosterone. "What now?"

"We find the Asgard that did this to… you and get Jack back."

"Gee, thanks, Daniel, forget about me then. I'll just slowly die."

"If we locate the Asgard responsible, O'Neill, we may have an opportunity to rectify the errors within you." Jack hoped that the big guy was right, but all he was worried about at that point in time was that the Asgard may have had an ulterior motive in making a clone and that, underneath, he may have some hidden programming. It scared him that he might have been made to hurt those that he loved.

**SG – SG – SG**

Sam watched on as Thor used an Asgard console to help and fix the instability in the younger Jack O'Neill's DNA. She knew that she ought to be relieved that the clone had not had any evil plan or unknown programming; it had simply been Jack. When she had further questioned him on kidnapping Daniella, he had argued to her that it was his hormones preventing him from thinking straight and that she did not want to know what other thoughts he could not get out of his mind. Sam did not feel relieved and, turning slightly towards her team-mates, she whispered, "So the Asgard placed a marker in your DNA to prevent any manipulation?"

"Aren't I a lucky boy?" Jack quipped. He still looked slightly dazed and confused.

"It's probably a good thing that no one can alter it, Jack. You're not quite their missing link yet. Would you really want to be?"

"Nah, I like being me."

"Don't you guys get it?" Sam demanded slightly angrier than she had intended.

"Relax, Sam, we're not gonna make you live with two me's."

She rolled her eyes at him. "Jack, ask yourself two questions: One – if you're not quite the missing link, but you are a step forward on the human evolutionary path, what does that make your daughter? Two – when did they put a marker in your DNA? Because if it was before Dani, then she has it, too. We've spent all this time worrying that my having been a host could affect her, but it turns out the Asgard and their experiments may have affected her. And do we really risk telling Thor right now? What if he runs a few experiments?"

"That was more than two questions."

"Jack, be serious."

"Guys, I think we can still trust Thor." Sam glared at Daniel and he backed down. "Ask him as a hypothetical, Jack."

"Personally, the longer we can keep Daniella a secret from the rest of the Universe the better." All Sam could do was shake her head at Jack. It was one thing to worry about her daughter being able to control Goa'uld technology and the different government agencies that may want to use that to their advantage, but it was another to consider that perhaps the Asgard would want her. It was far harder to defend themselves against the Asgard. "Hey, Thor, old buddy."

"O'Neill?" Thor questioned, approaching the group. "Your clone has been stabilised and he will be able to live a perfectly lengthy life."

"Sweet, but on a different note." Jack coughed to clear his throat and Sam tried to hide her eagerness. "You said that you put a marker in my DNA to prevent anything like this happening?"

"That is why the clone was not the correct age, O'Neill. I am sorry to have done such a thing without your permission, but it was done in your best interests."

"True," Jack nodded. "Little question though: if I have a kid will it have it?"

"There is a chance with the human's method of sexual reproduction, however there is always a chance that offspring would not carry that marker."

"What if it did?"

"Unless a mutation were to occur, O'Neill, it would serve the same function as the marker does in yourself – prevention of manipulation."

"What kind of mutation?" Sam suddenly asked, unable to contain her worries any longer.

"The same as with normal DNA. There is very little to worry about, Major Carter, any offspring that O'Neill chooses to have will simply not be able to have their DNA manipulated or have clones created from them." The little grey alien then looked her straight in the eye, as if able to see something in her eyes. "Do not worry." Turning abruptly, Thor headed towards another console and began to move stones around. "I must depart now with my prisoner, but I will send you all back to the SGC."

"Thank you," Daniel said.

"Yeah, thanks!" Both Jacks said as they then turned to each other and the bright beaming light engulfed them. Sam did not want to have to deal with two Jacks; one was bad enough.

**SG – SG – SG **

"So, you're sure about this?"

The younger Jack nodded, looking across the road to the high school standing there. "It shouldn't be too hard. I might even be called a geek."

"Maybe." There was a silence between the two men that could not have been any more awkward than it was. Jack was sure that his younger self would be okay, but SGC personnel would still be checking in on him from time to time. It was not just going to be the two officers picked to be Jon's, as he now wanted to be called, parents and Jack was sure that Jon realised that.

"Know what the hardest thing's gonna be?"

"Getting over the fact that you're supposed to be dating teenage girls when you're an old man at heart?"

Jon laughed. "The bigger obstacle with dating is that I'm already in love." Jack recoiled at the words spoken out loud. "Don't shy away from it. You can't lie to me."

"Wouldn't try."

"I'm jailbait for the person I love. You're not. And don't," he pre-empted, "use Daniella as an excuse. She knew I was you. She's cleverer than she looks." They both remained in silence, with Jack's mind filled with all that Jon was giving up. It made him incredibly grateful that he was the real deal. "Promise me you'll look after her."

Nodding, Jack knew that he meant both females. "No one will get close to either of them."

Jon began to cross the street, but turned back half way to throw one final comment at Jack. "In a few years, if you haven't got the courage yet, send Sam my way. Or if she ever decides she just wants a younger model that can keep up."

**SG – SG – SG**

Glancing up, Sam smiled at Jack as he entered the kitchen and poured himself a cup of coffee. She could not fully begin to understand what he was going through. The younger version of him, Jon, had to give up everything that made his life his, and that included his daughter. Those thoughts would continue to haunt Jack, Sam knew, but that did not change the fact that she needed to discuss their recent actions.

"Did you drop him off okay?"

"Yeah. He wants to be a geek."

"Nothing wrong with that." Her cheeks flushed as she felt his eyes on her, studying her intensely.

"Never said there was. I think-"

"Look, Jack-" They both began speaking at the same time; Jack gestured for her to continue. "I wanted to apologise for the other night." The feelings and sensations of that night flooded her entire body, causing her flushed face to burn even hotter. "I'd had a few drinks." She knew that it had not been the alcohol.

"I never wanted to take advantage of you." His voice was quiet, with a hoarseness behind it and Sam found herself wanting to falter.

"You didn't. You couldn't." She heard the sound of his closed fist hit the car in her mind, reminded of the fact that it had been him that had pulled away. "Perhaps alcohol should be off limits."

"Yeah." Jack drank down a few gulps of the coffee and then put the cup down, the slight noise echoed throughout the room. "Hammond pulled me aside earlier, telling me how proud he was of all of us especially the past few days. He said that he'd had reservations about the two of us, what with Dani and everything, but we'd stuck to our words." Laughing bitterly, Jack took another gulp of coffee and Sam felt guilt weigh her down. "We've been walking a bit too close to that line, haven't we?"

"Janet and Cassie came around earlier. Cassie kept Daniella entertained while Janet sat down with me. She apologised for how she's been, but that she doesn't want to be there and pick up the pieces. She said that she can't understand how Daniel can forgive you for the pain I went through. I tried telling her that I've hurt you plenty, too, but she said that doesn't matter when she's my friend and not yours. I can't let her and Daniel pick up any pieces later on." She could no longer continue looking at him, her pain was now too great. They could not continue how they had been any longer. "We have to stick to the line, the barriers." She took a deep breath. "The regulations."

Allowing his eyes to meet hers, she wanted to take it back and run into his arms, but she knew that she had to be stronger than that. Sam could not bring any further complications into his life or into Daniella's. At least if they backed away from each other, their friendship would continue to thrive, ensuring Daniella's happiness. She still hoped that he would say something. Instead he walked out of the kitchen and up the stairs. Shaking her head and any tears that were trying to form, Sam forced herself to get on with something productive, putting the past few weeks far from her mind.

**The End!**


End file.
